Tuesday, July 17, 2012 • Bullseye Recycling voices its concerns

Publisher’s note: This story originally appeared in the Tuesday, July 17, 2012, edition of the Lassen County Times.

As far as Tommy Glenn, III, co-owner of Bullseye Recycling, is concerned, the issue he’s having with the Lassen County Planning Commission threatening to revoke his use permit isn’t the vehicles. He concurs there have always been vehicles on its site in Johnstonsville. The problem is, he feels, the county isn’t dealing with him as above board as they might; they’re not working with him to find a mutually agreeable solution.

For one thing, there’s the matter of the July 5 meeting reported in last week’s paper. All three Glenns – Tommy, III, his wife, Shannah, and father Tom Glenn, II (Old Tom) claim they didn’t know about it and so were unable to be present to have their say.

“Don’t you think we would have been there for something as important as that if we had known about it?” asked Shannah Glenn, the other co-owner of the recycling scrap yard.

Glenn, III said he felt blindsided by the meeting. “On June 8, they told me I had a meeting on July 5 where they were going to try to revoke my use permit. I’ve been in business almost six years and in three weeks they’re going to shut me down? So I went to the Board of Supervisors a week before the meeting and asked for an extension to August 1. Later that day, my District Supervisor, Larry Wosick, called and said, ‘Hey I’ve got some good news. Your meeting’s been moved to Aug. 1.’ That’s why I wasn’t there.”

Bullseye Assistant Manager Robert Snyder said he ended up at the county offices by accident the day of the meeting.

“I happened to be there turning in some papers from NST Engineering and to let them know they had been out there that morning, and that’s when I heard about the meeting. Upstairs they told me, ‘By the way, you’re on the agenda. You might as well turn the papers in then.’”

“They never once came out,” said Glenn, III. “They never called to see what we’ve done.”

Another issue seems to revolve around a crusher that’s been causing all kinds of problems. Glenn, III believes the crusher is actually an improvement over the way things were in the past.

“One of the reasons we brought in this flattener was to manage the cars,” said Glenn. “This is what the flattener allowed us to do. We can ship things out more easily.  They’re smashed and taken out of the county. We have vehicles here. We’ve always had vehicles here. County agencies bring us their vehicles. We’re running more efficiently than we ever have. Why are they trying to close us down now?”

This speculation is part of what has Glenn, III both perplexed and frustrated. “I’d like to be able to have an entire dismantling service. I think it would be an asset to the community,” he said. “If they don’t want me to do it here, why don’t they help me, a business owner, find a legitimate spot to do dismantling? I don’t have a problem doing the cars someplace else. Just help me find a spot, or help me get set up on the abatement program.”

The Abandoned Vehicle Abatement program, according to the California Highway Patrol’s website, “Was designed to provide guidance to counties that wish to develop and administer AVA Authorities. The AVA Program is recognized as a means to remove abandoned vehicles that create a public nuisance and a health or safety hazard. As of January 2005, there were thirty-seven counties in the state of California participating in the AVA Program.”

Lassen County is one of the participating counties.

“In the very first part of the abatement program, it says scrap yards are allowed to take vehicles,” maintained Glenn, III. “And that’s what we are. We’re a scrap yard. We’re not a dismantler. The county is trying to throw us into the dismantler class and we’re not. We don’t sell parts. I would like to be a dismantler, but they keep putting up roadblocks.”

During a walk around the site, Old Tom. and Glenn, III pointed out improvements that have been made over the years and their methods for taking care of toxic waste.

“They’re making us out to be villains with oil gushing out of this giant crusher,” said Glenn, III pointing to the drop cloth spread on the ground under the crusher. “This is a fully self-contained unit. There’s very little oil lost and what is, we catch with the blanket and take care of it. Everything is done to code. We just had our APA inspection and we passed with flying colors.”

Other improvements on the property include a warehouse and six-foot fence around the property.

“If there’s such a problem, why aren’t other people calling us out? The fire department has been out here on the site cutting up cars as part of their training. If there were hazards, wouldn’t they be one of the first agencies to point it out to us?”

The future of Bullseye Recycling still hangs in the balance. At the July 5 Lassen County Planning Commission board meeting, it was voted to continue the open meeting on Aug. 1 to give Bullseye the chance to comply with the use permit and remove the crusher and abandoned cars.