Haywood County has secured the first right of refusal on the 1.4-acre tract where the Mauney Cove trash and recycling collection site is located near the intersection of U.S. 276 and U.S. 19.

The county currently leases the site for $6,000 a year.

The Board of Commissioners agreed Monday to secure the first right of refusal on the property, giving the county first dibs should the owner ever decide to sell it.

“This doesn’t commit us to anything. Just the option to purchase the site should the need arise,” said Commission Chairman Mark Swanger.

Mauney Cove is one of its most used collection centers in the county.

“Should this site be sold we could lose one of our most coveted centers in the county,” Swanger said.

The lease on the property is good until September 2016.

In the same meeting, the commissioners also accepted a $30,000 grant from the North Carolina Department of Natural Resources to help pay for new recycling receptacles at all the county’s convenience centers. The total cost of replacing all the old recycling containers is about $272,300, which was included in the county’s solid waste budget for the year.

— By Caitlin Bowling