SMETHPORT – In order to aid the county’s struggling recycling
program, the McKean County Commissioners are putting together a
bailout plan of their own, possibly dishing out ,50,000 to Rustick
LLC to keep recycling collection up and running.

Though the terms of the funding have not yet been established,
the commissioners walked away from a meeting Tuesday morning in the
McKean County Courthouse informally agreeing to give Rustick the
money in the form of a grant.

Previously, the commissioners said the county was not in a
position to help Rustick, which was scheduled to suspend recyclable
collection throughout the county this week, but the McKean County
Housing and Redevelopment Authority has come forward and offered to
give the money to the county.

“We consider this a grant to help county residents,” said Penny
Eddy, former executive director of the authority. “We have a lot of
contact with township supervisors … and a lot of residents were
concerned there wasn’t going to be a recycling program.”

As the commissioners, Eddy and Dusti Pantuso, current executive
director of the authority, discussed Tuesday at the meeting, the
authority will grant the ,50,000 to the county which will in turn
grant it to Rustick.

The grant will be enough to continue Rustick’s recycling program
for another six months, assuming the value of recyclables remains
low. The commissioners hope the six-month extension may buy some
time for recyclable prices to rise, allowing Rustick to run the
program without financial support.

Dick Tyger, Rustick’s recycling manager at the landfill, said
the company is losing approximately ,8,000 to ,10,000 a month
operating the recycling collection.

The ,50,000 grant from the Housing and Redevelopment Authority
will certainly help, Tyger said.

The commissioners are currently in the process of laying out
some terms of the grant in terms of operational goals and a
disbursement schedule.

As of 2007, Rustick had 15 drop-off sites scattered around the
county. The company was supposed to start retrieving the bins
Monday as it suspended recycling collection, but retrieval of the
bins was postponed until company officials discussed the funding
source with county officials.

Eddy explained the grant money stems from a million-dollar
economic development revolving loan fund that the authority
received from the state nearly 20 years ago to help promote
Allegheny Particleboard. Once Allegheny Particleboard paid the
money back, the authority was free to loan it out to other
businesses, and has “rolled it over” many times, Eddy said.

With county officials discussing the terms of the grant and what
stipulations may accompany it, a loan Rustick has through the
county is also muddying the waters of the deal.

Rustick took over the landfill in 2005, paying the county ,17
million.

The company also purchased equipment that the county bought
using state grant money. The county had to reimburse the state for
the equipment, so when Rustick obtained the equipment it took out a
,425,000 loan with the county to reimburse the county for what it
paid to the state.

DeMott said that Rustick is “significantly behind” on its loan
payments, owing the county more than ,340,000.

When asked why the money to support the continuance of the
recycling program wouldn’t be loaned instead of granted, DeMott
responded, “As a loan, I wouldn’t expect that money to be
repaid.”

The commissioners also felt that Rustick would not take on
additional debt to run a service it has been giving to the county
for free for the last four years.