A new take on recycling

Cal, Gary and Pam,

I would like to add my voice to your efforts to address the high cost of recycling. Personally I am opposed to paying a high price on a contract to have anyone recycle our garbage. If we need to pay more to recycle it than to place it in the landfill, by all means place it in the landfill.

But there is a way to economically recycle what our citizens throw away. It is to allow people to take what they want out of our green box sites and out of the county landfill.

I would suggest you check with our insurance carrier on what it would cost to purchase adequate insurance to cover the county for the extra liability this might create. Of course, you should get competitive quotes from other insurance sources.

I attempted to limit this liability during the last legislative session with House Bill 208. While it received a 97-1 vote in the House and a 30-20 vote in the Senate, since it was to limit government liability, it required a two-thirds vote in each house.

While I would resist it if at all possible, if it is absolutely necessary you might charge everyone who wants to salvage a small fee for the right to take materials from our refuse.

I actually believe allowing the public to salvage would save money for the county without you ever having to charge for the right to salvage. It is hard for me to see how the county saved any money when they hired personnel to man the Columbia Falls green box site and then cut the former hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. down to the present hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

A friend of mine, John Date, used to clean up around the green box sites for far less than your current help. But you did not have to pay him to be there full time in order to make sure nobody was taking anything out of the facilities for their own use.

— Rep. Jerry O’Neil

Editor’s note: The following letter was sent to the Flathead County Commissioners office by HD-3 Rep. Jerry O’Neil, R-Columbia Falls.