Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful, the non-profit organization that has spearheaded the county’s recycling effort for over two decades, has filed its “official” response to the avalanche of bad publicity in the form of an editorial by Gwinnett Daily Post Publisher J.K. Murphy. He joined the GC&B community advisory board earlier this year.

According to Murphy, the County Commission is entirely responsible for the failure of the new sanitation plan and the nasty “divorce” that has ended the Commission’s relationship with GC&B:

Everything was done by the book – they hired consultants, sought public input and checked with attorneys every step of the way. Everything seemed in order when GC&B made its final recommendation to the county commission, which embraced the plan unanimously.

Murphy engages in a bit of “revisionist history,” however… and more than a modest helping of spin. The bottom line is that the Commission, in response to real or perceived problems with the county’s  sanitation plan, trusted GC&B to formulate a solution. GC&B was the supposed trash “expert” and the Commission should have been able to rely on the organization to get it right.

GC&B’s proposal contained a fundamental flaw… it required the county to cede government authority including enforcement powers to the GC&B, a private organization. That’s a no-no…. and a very obvious one.

Sure, the County Commission probably should have known better. And yes, the county’s legal staff—at least its head—should be fired and run out of GJAC on a rail.

But for Murphy to argue that GC&B is simply a “cast off and abandoned” victim of political “CYA” is, frankly, pretty disgusting. If they hired attorneys and did everything “by the book,” why didn’t their own attorneys understand that GC&B couldn’t make itself the “trash police”?

Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful ready to get back to its original mission

More on This Topic:

• Gwinnett Wants Haulers to Cover Its Rear
• MackPerryHomes: Gwinnett Trash Advisory Committee meets
• County to Scrap Trash Plan