Halifax County commissioners Tuesday night will weigh whether to join Roanoke Rapids on a solid waste transfer station or direct its public utilities department to proceed with building one solely for the county.

That is one of the immediate questions the commissioners will have to answer at the 6:30 p.m. meeting, County Manager Tony Brown said this afternoon.

“We'll probably take baby steps,” he said, “yes or no on the partnership. If it's no we'll give direction to public utilities. We'll discuss the flow.”

The only kink in the matter would be if Waste Industries comes up with a counter offer that is too good to pass up, Brown said. A Waste Industries official has been at both a joint meeting between the city and county and was at last week's city council meeting. Thus far, Brown said, the company has yet to submit a counterproposal after negotiations on a new contract have all but fallen through.

Brown said the county is ready to move forward. “The train is rolling forward. If Waste Industries does present a counter offer we may stop at the station to have a look at it.”

Brown said other issues will have to be addressed should a partnership with the city be accepted. That includes a form of governance over the facility, most likely through some form of an advisory panel with a set of approved bylaws. “Their public works is a department within the city. Ours is an enterprise. It would be like us partnering with a non-profit. Details like that are going to have to be worked out.”

Another thing that will eventually have to be worked out is an agreement on revenue sharing, whether it is a 50-50 split or some other formula based on trash generation.

Brown said the county does not consider extending the city an invitation to join it a turning of the tables because the city has had more meetings on the matter. “Their meetings were about the sites.”

Because the county has all but agreed the existing landfill site off Highway 48 in the Aurelian Springs community would be the best site, there was no need for that discussion, Brown said. “We talked about a partnership last summer.”

Brown said he believes it makes sense to partner with the city. “It's an economy of scales. The more tonnage we have the more savings there are.”