The Newton County Solid Waste Authority (SWA) met in a special called meeting Monday to approve a new law firm and consider revisions to its intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with the Newton County Board of Commissioners (BOC).

The authority voted unanimously to approve an agreement with the law firm of Jarrard & Davis (J&D) to provide legal services.

Attorney Sam VanVolkenburgh, of J&D, detailed the BOC’s recommended changes to the IGA. Among the revisions was a change in language in the IGA in which the BOC agrees to pass resolutions and ordinances needed by the SWA to support its franchise.

“In support of the exclusive franchise, the county must create an ordinance the gives the exclusive right to provide waste management services, but it need not, at least under this IGA, implement an ordinance putting mandatory service component for residents of Newton County,” VanVolkenburgh said.

The BOC also requested that convenience centers remain open longer than the one year specified for some of them in the current IGA.

“After the initial year, when some of the convenience centers must remain open, the county has asked that the authority keep open as many convenience centers as can be operated on a financially neutral basis that is not a money losing basis for at least two more years,” VanVolkenburgh said.

Additionally, the BOC recommended revisions to the IGA dealing with profits from energy regeneration. It also requested that the SWA abide by the county’s competitive procurement and purchasing policy, or adopt its own competitive policy.

The SWA approved the revisions unanimously.