Landfill owner put county ahead of profit
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER
Staff Writer

TOMS RIVER -- The death of Ocean County Landfill owner Charles J. Hesse III last week put into perspective just what he did for all of the county's municipalities, Freeholder John C. Bartlett Jr. said.

"No one else would have worked with the county the way he did," Bartlett said. "They didn't have to. He did it because he wanted to be a good citizen."

Hesse, 71, owned and operated the state-of-the-art landfill in Manchester Township. The facility is the only designated landfill to accept all of Ocean County's solid waste.

As a private landfill owner, Hesse could have accepted garbage from anywhere, Bartlett said.

"What Charlie did for this county was to reserve his capacity for the length of the solid waste management plan," he said. "He could have made a lot more money, but he didn't do that. Charlie committed to us he would only accept waste from Ocean County."

Hesse died Nov. 13 at New York Mount Sinai Medical Center, after a long battle with pulmonary fibrosis.

Under the current state permits, the landfill will run out of space in roughly 10 years. But Bartlett is hopeful the Hesse family will continue the partnership with Ocean County, despite Hesse's death.

"At this point, the landfill is an operating facility and will be," he said. "If and when the landfill closes, that means Ocean County municipalities will be faced with higher tipping fees. The garbage will be traveling outside of the state. There aren't any commercial landfills left. We can't site anymore in Ocean County because of Pinelands and CAFRA (Coastal Areas Facilities Regulation Act) regulations."

Hesse called county officials recently to let them know the new state sales tax would affect the cost of moving the fill to cover the dump face each day, Bartlett said.

"He called us before he moved the rate," he said. "He wanted to inform municipalities long before they started their budget work."

Hesse was often on the receiving end of odor and noise complaints from Dover Township residents who bought upscale homes just 2,000 feet from the landfill's perimeter back in the 1990s.

He ordered landfill employees to spray a neutralizing agent on garbage at the dump face and to cover it with fill as quickly as possible. He also mandated that the dump face be kept to almost half its size, to reduce odors.

Manchester Township residents often complained of problems from sea gulls. The birds wheeled over the landfill, picked over garbage, then dumped chicken bones and bird waste on their properties.

Hesse tried a number of methods to reduce the gull complaints. His bird deterrence program included buying balloons with giant eyes painted on them to frighten the gulls away. Landfill employees fired starter pistols to disperse the birds.

Bartlett and Freeholder Joseph H. Vicari both said Hesse will be missed.

"He was a wonderful person to work with," Bartlett said. "When he was the low bidder on a road paving project, you always knew a first-class job was going to be done."

"He was always a gentleman," Vicari said. "He was meticulous. He had high standards. Charlie put service above profit. He provided a service to Ocean County and set the standard for landfills in New Jersey. He gave his word, you got a handshake. Charlie will be missed."