Photo provided to the Times Observer The Grunderville Landfill in Pleasant Township is on the brink of closure, which would release about $480,000 in closure fund dollars to the county.

The Warren County Commissioners have given a preliminary blessing to a proposal to create a county Recreation and Conservation Authority.

As pitched this week by Warren County Commissioner Jeff Eggleston, the authority ties back into a larger discussion about what the county should do with $480,000 that will come to the county as a result of the final closure of the Grunderville Landfill in Pleasant Township.

All of the physical work needed to close the site was completed late last year and the process could be just one permit away from final completion.

And that final completion is what unlocks the funding which served as a long-standing closure fund for the site.

The idea of the authority, according to Eggleston, will meet a couple of objectives: The “long-term management of the site” as well as boosting recycling efforts in the county.

The landfill itself is owned by the U.S. Forest Service. The cap of the landfill will have to be mowed periodically so that trees don’t puncture a liner.

Funding, then, could be used to “maintain the current recycling programs the county currently has,” municipal sites in Eldred, Elk, Cherry Grove and Columbus. The cost of those sites includes both county and municipal funding.

He proposed that the funding be placed in an endowment and restricted for recreation and conservation purposes.

“That’s trying to remain what we currently have,” he said.

The proposal also raises the possibility of hiring a county recreation director, a position eliminated in county government many years ago.

Eggleston said that position would be able to promote county amenities, assist with the Bike-Hike Trail, fundraise and “help manage some of these assets that we have.”

He said such a position has been outlined in every county plan of the last 20 years.

“It’s a need,” he said. “Everybody acknowledges that. This would be a method of addressing that, would set the stage for that.”

He noted there is also “nothing in this that says we have to keep the recycling program as is…. The way it’s going, something needs to change.”

There was discussion about whether, as Commissioner Tricia Durbin put it, “reset the landscape for recycling.”

“When you add in the city, there’s a great deal of recycling that’s actually done in the county,” Eggleston said, also crediting Tidioute’s self-sustaining program.

“Everybody appreciates that we should recycle,” County Planner Dan Glotz said. “It’s the right thing to do.”

He said the county needs to start somewhere and investigate different options.

“It has to be understood that there’s a cost to recycling,” Eggleston added.

The commissioners gave an initial assent to the idea of creating the authority. Eggleston, as a result, will bring documents taking that step to a future meeting.