Honor Zecca’s Retirement Service

Assembly Resolution No. 1178 BY: M. of A. Magee COMMENDING James A. Zecca upon the occasion of his retirement after more than 30 years of distinguished service as the Director for the Madison County Department of Solid Waste and Sanitation WHEREAS, This Legislative Body seeks to acknowledge those individuals whose professional lives and civic endeavors serve to enhance the stature of the State of New York; and WHEREAS, Attendant to such concern, and in full accord with its long-standing traditions, this Legislative Body is justly proud to commend James A. Zecca upon the occasion of his retirement after more than 30 years of distinguished service as the Director for the Madison County Department of Solid Waste and Sanitation; and WHEREAS, For more than three decades, James A. Zecca, affectionately known as the Recycling Czar, has lived and breathed recycling; he began his long and distinguished career in the 1970s when he started the first recycling program at SUNY Cobleskill; and WHEREAS, After leaving Schoharie County, James A. Zecca served as the Recycling Center Supervisor in Wilton, New York, and then the Town of Milford, New York; he next became the Recycling and Bio-solids Composting Coordinator in New Hampshire; and WHEREAS, In the late 1980s, James A. Zecca held the title of Mayor of Oriskany Falls, New York; in this capacity, he initiated the first mandatory curbside recycling program in Oneida County; and WHEREAS, James A. Zecca became the Director of the Madison County Department of Solid Waste and Sanitation in 1988, the position from which he will officially retire in 2018; and WHEREAS, Throughout his tenure, James A. Zecca has pursued various solar energy and gas-to-energy initiatives, and has been on the forefront of innovative "green" technology, propelling the Madison County Landfill into the 21st Century; and WHEREAS, Through James A. Zecca's leadership and vision, the Madison County Department of Solid Waste and Sanitation has served as a model for other waste facilities in New York State, across the country and throughout the world; and WHEREAS, Scientists, news reporters and those involved in the solid waste industry from Australia, Ecuador, Russia and Sweden, along with visitors from across the United States, have toured the Buyea Road landfill site seeking information on renewable energy from James A. Zecca; and WHEREAS, Under the luminous leadership of James A. Zecca, Madison County was the first municipality to close its landfill with energy-generating solar technology; the landfill features the Carlisle's Spectro Power Cap Solar Cover system which provides superior environmental protection as a landfill closure system while also generating clean, renewable energy; and WHEREAS, James A. Zecca has taken a small, insignificant landfill site from a mound of trash buried in a cell with a clay liner to an energy efficient facility; Madison County's landfill is a paradigm for solid waste experts and those seeking to emulate the green initiatives in practice there; and WHEREAS, James A. Zecca's latest project has been centered on establishing a plastics-to-energy facility at the newly created Agriculture and Renewable Energy Park on Buyea Road next to the landfill site; he hopes to establish a regional collection site for agricultural and rigid plastics that would be turned into synthetic gas or diesel; one such facility would provide much needed jobs for the area and save the county thousands of dollars in energy costs; and WHEREAS, For his steadfast and unremitting commitment to his profession and the environment, James A. Zecca was the recipient of the

2014 New York State Association for Reduction, Reuse and Recycling (NYSAR3) Leadership Award for Life Time Achievement; and WHEREAS, James A. Zecca rendered faithful, conscientious and valuable service to the Madison County Department of Solid Waste and Sanitation; in his capacity as Director, he served with loyalty, honor and distinction, and was governed by a keen sense of duty; and WHEREAS, During his tenure with the Madison County Department of Solid Waste and Sanitation, he earned the admiration, esteem and affection of his colleagues; and WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body that those who enhance the quality of life in their community and have shown a long and sustained commitment to the maintenance of high standards in their profession, certainly have earned the recognition and applause of all the citizens of this great Empire State; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to commend James A. Zecca upon the occasion of his retirement after more than 30 years of distinguished service as the Director for the Madison County Department of Solid Waste and Sanitation, and to wish him continued success in all future endeavors; and be it further RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted to James A. Zecca.