Following Waste Management's presentation Tuesday on its plans for the 3Cycle Environmental Management Center, Cherokee County Council members were mum on what comes next.

Historically, council has three ways to go in dealing with the company's proposal.

Council could opt to take a decisive vote on the proposal, forward it to the appropriate committee, likely the public works committee, for a recommendation or, lastly, elect to enter negotiations with the company as an economic development proposal.

Councilman Bailey Humphries, who chairs the public works committee, wants council to place the proposal in his committee.

Under that scenario, Humphries said the county could force more concessions from Waste Management.

"Putting it in the committee, we can really see what (Waste Management) will give the county," Humphries said.

According to its initial proposal, Waste Management already has agreed to:

- provide host fees totaling approximately $2 million a year;

- a one-time milestone investment of $4 million;

- free disposal, which, based on the assumption of the county generating 19,500 tons a year at a market rate of $40 a ton, would save the county about $780,000 a year.

Humphries said Waste Management officials also have agreed to pay the public water tap fees for McKowns Mountain residents with concerns the landfill might contaminate their wells.

The company addressed another worry from some McKowns Mountain residents by relocating the primary landfill cell from the western edge of the property to a more central location.

"(Waste Management) has shown they will listen to our concerns," Humphries said.