Benton County DSAC disputes agenda control; chair's agenda adopted after procedural vote

At a meeting of the Disposal Site Advisory Committee for Benton County, members argued over who controls the committee's agenda after a preliminary staff-posted agenda appeared on the county website. Vice Chair Mark Yeager moved that the panel adopt the agenda prepared by Chair Ken Eklund as the operating agenda for the session; Marge Pop seconded the motion.

The motion passed with four members voting yes and three abstaining. Chair Ken Eklund announced the result: "myself saying I, Mark Yeager saying I, Joel Geyer saying I, and Marge Pop saying I," while Chuck Gilbert, Debbie Guile and Brent abstained. Staff later confirmed the motion carried as a majority of those present.

The dispute began when Eklund said the public posting did not reflect the agenda he had submitted and that the committee, under its bylaws, prepares its own agenda. "The committee prepares its own agenda," Eklund said, arguing the committee's authority stems from state law and the committee's bylaws. County staff said the published language was a miscommunication and that the staff-prepared agenda had been based on guidance given by the Board of Commissioners.

Committee members also raised concerns about how the county communicates changes to agendas. Several members said they had sent emails about the agenda that went unanswered; staff said they had exchanged emails with the chair and that some internal sequencing and packet preparation led to confusion.

The meeting record shows members asked for greater clarity and for the county to preserve meeting recordings and records related to the posting. The committee agreed to pursue clearer text for the DSAC web pages and to circulate proposed edits to county staff for posting, and staff committed to work with DSAC on revised language.

Separately, members discussed the board of commissioners' August action to dissolve the Solid Waste Advisory Council (SWAC). Vice Chair Mark Yeager said publicly that the commissioners' action appeared contrary to Benton County code: "the action that the county commissioners took to dissolve the Solid Waste Advisory Council was contrary to the Benton County code," he said. Staff responded that the board intended to create an ad hoc committee to cover broader solid-waste and sustainable-materials matters during a planning process. The ad hoc committee appointment was anticipated after the Thanksgiving holiday.

Next steps: DSAC members asked county staff to provide status updates on public-records requests and to post agreed website language before the committee's next meeting. The committee recorded the outcome of the procedural vote for the minutes.