SMETHPORT -McKean County Commissioners and the Solid Waste
Authority Thursday agreed to a 30-day truce in their power struggle
over money left from the landfill sale.

But while the “Consent Order and Agreement” states it was
entered into “in the interest of amicably resolving the present
dispute,” there were signs that the county might be less than
conciliatory, and probably not generous.

After the brief court session, in which SWA Solicitor Tony
Alfieri was the only participant, Chairman of commissioners John
Egbert warned municipalities, “It might be wise for those who
received funds not to spend them, but to find a safe place to keep
them.”

The SWA passed out checks to 13 municipalities on the street in
Smethport Saturday; since that time the other seven eligible for
the SWA’s intended refund have also received checks in varying
amounts.

The county was given a check for $2.5 million, but returned it
to the authority without cashing it, Egbert said.

While the county’s special counsel, from an Erie law firm, had
said Monday that the county did not intend to seek the return of
money distributed “at this time,” Egbert’s comment seems to
indicate that time has passed.

The agreement allows the authority to continue to do business
until at least Dec. 12, with no further hearing scheduled before
then.

While the authority is permitted it write some checks for normal
bill-paying, the total allowed without county approval cannot
exceed $5,000.

The authority is prohibited from expanding or changing its
operations and from hiring any employees or consultants during the
period of the truce.

Neither the authority nor the county is permitted to take any
action that would affect the status quo of the authority during the
period,

Payment to Mattie & Alfieri and Rhoads & Sinon law firms
for work already done are permitted, and retainers of $10,000 and
$40,000, respectively, that were authorized at the authority’s
Saturday meeting are allowed to stand, but the county notes that it
does not agree the action taken at that meeting was effective and
reserves the right to challenge it.

Two payments of $2,400 and $12,000 for audits of the SWA
accounts are allowed.

After reaffirming that the authority is not permitted to
“expend, gift, transfer or otherwise dispose of any ‘assets,'” the
agreement says that the parties will be reasonable in agreeing to
pay any unexpected expenses that come up.

Before Dec. 12, the agreement states, “The county and the
authority shall meet in good faith in an attempt to resolve the
issues …

Among those issues, the agreement notes, will be the future of
the authority, which commissioners have long said they believe
should be dissolved.

Another issue is the one that prompted Saturday’s extraordinary
meetings and the subsequent court proceedings – the division of the
money from the sale of the landfill.

A third issue mentioned refers without specifying to “actions
taken by the authority and the county between Nov. 1 and Nov.
7.

In addition to the disbursement of $1.3 million by the
authority, that would include to Nov. 5 order by the county that
the authority dissolve itself.