COVINGTON, Ga. — Wayne Haynie resigned from the Newton County Solid Waste Management Authority (SWMA), effective Monday, June 5.

Haynie served as the SWMA's Chairman since its inception in April 2016 and held the same post with Newton County’s Citizens’ Committee on Solid Waste from April to August of 2015.

Under his guidance, the SWMA has hired a landfill director, began remediation efforts on Newton County’s landfill, managed the county’s Trash Collection Convenience Centers and set the course for the county’s solid waste program for years to come.

“Reflecting on where we stand as the Authority, I feel we are at a good point to part ways and promote or seek new leadership,” Haynie said in his letter of resignation submitted Monday, June 5. “My experience serving the County has been rewarding; I hope you’ll agree we broke some new ground and moved the solid waste program off from the old path.”

Phillip Wise has previously served as the authority’s Vice-Chair and will now assume the role of Chairman.

The Newton County Board of Commissioners has not yet identified a replacement for Haynie, or two other recently resigned members. Due to the SWA currently being engaged in several time-sensitive matters any new members would have to digest a lot of information in a short period of time. Due to that fact, the Board of Commissioners will discuss moving the Solid Waste Authority from an eight-member authority to a five-member authority during its regular meeting Tuesday, May 6.

“There is a lot of items the Solid Waste Authority is currently working on that need to be completed in a short period of time,” said Marcello Banes, Board of Commissioners Chairman and SWA member. “It would be unfair to both any new members and the authority to appoint and acclimate new members at this time.

“I would like to thank Wayne Haynie for his service to this county and the incredible amount of time he volunteered to help the people of Newton County and our solid waste program.”