Costs of new trash site presented
A trash collection “super site” is in the works for Bigfork, but Flathead County officials want more public input before it buys the land to build it.
County commissioner Gary Krueger and members of the Flathead County Solid Waste Board met Wednesday to outline a budget for what it would take to replace Bigfork’s trash-collection site on the outskirts of town. The commissioners have been advocating closure of the site because of safety concerns, and their desire to consolidate it with the Somers site about five miles away.
But because of overwhelming public opposition to closing the Bigfork site, the commissioners and the county Solid Waste Board are researching the viability of purchasing five acres near Bigfork and creating a “super site,” a model of what other county trash sites could look like.
The site would be landscaped away from public view, it would be staffed and would include a recycling center.
In order to pay for the site and ongoing maintenance, the county is proposing to create a special-fee area, or tax district.
The special-fee area would use the Bigfork elementary school district and Swan River school district boundaries.
Following is breakdown of proposed costs of the site:
CAPITAL COSTS
Land purchase $150,000
Site construction $450,000
Recycling infrastructure $75,000
Annual capital cost $15,000
OPERATION COSTS
Recycling haul $13,500
Maintenance $8,000
Staffing $60,000
Supplies $20,000
Cost to residents in the tax district has not been finalized, but figures from the county this week showed the cost would be around $35 annually. There are about 3,350 residences in the tax district that would be assessed.
The county is considering purchasing five acres of land from Tim Calaway and his father-in-law, Richard Whitaker. The sale of the land hasn’t been finalized and a buy/sell agreement has not been signed.
The land is north of Montana Highway 35 and 83, east of Crossroads church near the Bigfork Cemetery. The committee this week said the site would be well hidden from public view, with tall earthen beams and trees surrounding it.
The Solid Waste Board will have a public meeting in Bigfork in the next 30 days to gauge public input on the proposed site. If the public supports the new site and the related costs, the commissioners would consider moving ahead with the land purchase and development. Krueger is the single Flathead County commissioner who sits on the Solid Waste Board.
If the commissioners decide to move ahead with construction of a new site, construction could begin in the summer of 2015 and the site could open next fall. The Bigfork trash site would remain open in the meantime. The county’s contract with Valley Recycling ends at the end of December, and no additional recycling options will be added until the new site is built.
The community of Lakeside is facing a similar situation. The Solid Waste Board recommended closing that site and consolidating it with the site on Montana 82 in Somers. No decision has been made on whether the Lakeside site will be closed, or if a similar tax district would be established to keep a trash site in Lakeside.
Paul Mutascio, president of the Community Foundation for a Better Bigfork, has been an outspoken opponent of the county’s plan to consolidate trash sites in Lakeside and Bigfork. He said he was pleased that the Solid Waste Board has voted to move ahead with keeping a site open in Bigfork and, perhaps, Lakeside. “The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive,” he told the committee Wednesday.
On the other hand, Solid Waste Board member Hank Olson has advocated consolidation of the Lakeside and Bigfork trash sites. “We’re being extremely kind” to the residents of Bigfork, who want their own trash site, he said, and he was against having the rest of Flathead County subsidize the purchase of the five acres for Bigfork’s site. “Should the county be in the business of land purchases?” he said. “No. We don’t like it, but that’s the way the world turns.”
Krueger said, “operationally and economically it made sense to close and consolidate” Bigfork and Lakeside, but that is not what the community wanted.
The Solid Waste Board had made a priority to address Bigfork first because of higher safety concerns around the current site on Montana Highway 83.
Krueger emphasized that Bigfork’s trash site, if built, “will be a beautiful site,” he said. “We’re going to build a better site. As a county commissioner I’m ashamed of the current Bigfork site. We can’t leave the site the way it is.”
The solid waste subcommittee this week asked Mutascio if the Community Foundation for Better Bigfork would help pay for landscaping, a well, and trees at the new site, if it’s built.
That committee estimated that cost to be $50,000 to $60,000.
Krueger said he still wanted more public input before the county commissioners enter into a buy/sell with the landowners. A meeting will be in Bigfork in mid-August to gauge public opinion. “If they say ‘no, close the site,’ then we’re not going to go out and buy property,” he said.