Lunenburg supervisors keep Meridian Waste bonding requirement, approve $5,000 donation for Senior Center roof

Lunenburg County supervisors on Oct. 13 resisted a request from Meridian Waste to reduce a Performance/Payment Bond tied to the county’s landfill host agreement and approved a $5,000 donation to the Senior Citizen Center to assist with roof repairs.

County Administrator Tracy M. Gee told the Board that Meridian Waste asked to reduce the bond from $525,000 to $117,000 and to reduce the annual bond by $50,000 as matching cash payments were made toward the Mitigation Fund. Gee said the current cash balance in the Mitigation Fund is $408,000 and that the $117,000 figure reflects the difference between the cash balance and the original bond amount.

Supervisor Robert Zava recommended leaving the bonding requirement unchanged, saying lowering it would reduce available mitigation funding; he noted the board originally envisioned a larger combined mitigation target. The rest of the Board agreed to keep the bond as-is and revisit the matter only when the combined cash-plus-bond total approaches the historical target.

Separately, Administrator Gee described a proposal from Benchmark Community Bank and Meridian Waste to use community donation funds to help pay for roof repairs at the Senior Citizen Center in Victoria. The Finance Committee recommended awarding $5,000; Supervisor Bacon moved to accept the recommendation and the Board unanimously approved the donation.

Why it matters: The bonding requirement guarantees funds for future mitigation related to privatized landfill operations; reducing the bond would shift more reliance onto the existing cash balance. The $5,000 donation is a small, immediate aid for a senior services facility that the county said has urgent repair needs.

Next steps: The Board will monitor the Mitigation Fund balance and will revisit bonding levels if and when the combined cash-plus-bond total hits the previously discussed target.