COOPERSTOWN _ The League of Women Voters of the Cooperstown Area will sponsor a panel discussion next week on the pros and cons of siting a landfill in Otsego County.
The issue will be one of many in the next few years facing the Otsego County Board of Representatives when it considers options for solid-waste management as its contract with MOSA winds down.
Ellen Tillapaugh, president of the Cooperstown LWV, said the group ``lobbied against the initial formation of MOSA,'' and is now ``eager to look at future options."
She said residents of the county are encouraged to attend at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Village Meeting Room in Cooperstown, below the Village Library at 22 Main St.
The panel includes Susan McIntyre, solid-waste manager for Delaware County; and Bob Griffin, employed by Browning Ferris Industries and transfer station operator in Schenectady.
Terry Bliss, Otsego County planning director, will provide background on past county waste-management efforts.
The county board recently contracted with Gerhardt LLC of New Hartwick to provide short- and long-term options for solid-waste management. The plan is expected to be complete and delivered to the board in about a year.
League members have positions on solid-waste management in place at the local, state and national levels of the LWV.
Martha Clarvoe, MOSA board member and league member, said local ``members were in the forefront of recycling before MOSA was a glimmer in Otsego County's eye," adding that they ``volunteered to crush glass at the railroad station and held the first magazine and junk mail collection, as well as a tire collection."
Tillapaugh said the local group's ``position focuses on our support for reduction of the solid-waste stream by recycling and reuse, and would enable us to address other local solid-waste issues once the Montgomery, Otsego and Schoharie collaboration ends in 2014.''
