Frustration mounts over debris hauling

The City of Sundance is paying more than its public works director would like to haul construction and debris to Gillette, the council heard last week. City engineers Trihydro added to this frustration when Jeff Young reported that the timeline to secure approval for a new pit could take more than eight months.

A roll-off container of debris costs a flat rate of $350 to haul, Public Works Director Mac Erickson told the council. It costs the same every time it goes, no matter how much is in it, but it’s proving difficult to fill those containers enough to justify the cost.

“Right now, the construction and debris is costing us,” he lamented, stating that it had been his hope to have the new pit open as soon as the landfill closure was complete.

Young meanwhile reported on ongoing efforts for the new pit, telling the council that the final topographic data has been received, which to all intents and purposes completes the permit application.

The permitting process, however, is expected to take a minimum of six to eight months. Young said that the Department of Environmental Quality has offered to purchase new roll-off containers for the city.

“They’re not so willing to get us a truck,” pointed out Mayor Paul Brooks, stating that it would probably be better to use a contractor’s truck and containers than accept city-owned containers without a way to haul them.

Erickson agreed that the containers don’t do much good without a truck to haul them and the city must still pay for that haulage and the tipping fee at the other end.

Council members expressed surprise to hear that the permitting process could take such a long time when the DEQ had already received everything but the topographic data. Brooks pondered whether the department has been cut to the point that it can’t get its work done, as some other state agencies appear to have been.

Brooks pledged to contact DEQ representatives to discuss options and see they might “expedite some other things” that could relieve the city of the $80 per ton it is currently paying to dump the debris and the “not very direct” route it is being forced to use to haul it.