Plans for solid waste district rekindled

Several years ago, an attempt was made to bring the county together under the umbrella of a solid waste district. It failed, but a rekindled version could see a district formed to encompass only those parts of the county that feel they would benefit from the existence of a local landfill.

Mayor Dick Claar of Moorcroft stood before the county commissioners last week with letters of support in hand from the towns of Sundance, Pine Haven and Moorcroft. All three are in favor of establishing a solid waste district, he said, but “Hulett is not in favor of it.”

Claar explained that the last remaining landfill in the county – located in Moorcroft – is nearing capacity and the town is attempting to secure permission for a vertical expansion from the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). However, according to Claar, the DEQ is unwilling to allow this unless Moorcroft takes the first steps towards creating a countywide district.

“They’re going to shut us down if we don’t come up with a plan,” he said.

Claar has visited each of the town councils in the county to gather support. He asked the commission to consider forming a district as he believes it is the only feasible way to finance the future of the landfill.

Claar reminded the commission that, when the idea was last floated a couple of years ago, a survey was sent out to county residents. It came back in favor of establishing a district, he said.

The process, he said, would be for the commission to form the district and appoint a board of between three and nine members, who would then investigate costs and other considerations. The board would then bring their findings back and potentially make a recommendation for a mill levy to fund the district.

“That would go in front of the voters,” he stressed, explaining that nothing the district board does would be binding without this public approval.

According to Claar, DEQ recommends that the district look at three mills or more, because it would not qualify for state funding if it asked for less.

The advantage for members of the district could be that the cost of using the Moorcroft landfill would drop from $78 per ton, possibly even to zero, Claar said. When asked if that would mean the towns could drop their rates, Claar said he is unable to speak for the other municipalities but can comment that, if the landfill closes, the opposite will be true for Moorcroft: the town will need to increase its garbage fees around $18 to $20 per month to cover the cost of hauling.

Sundance, he pointed out, is another 30 miles from the nearest landfill in Gillette, while Pine Haven is an extra 11 or 12 miles away.

It would also be up to the board as to whether customers who chose not to join the district would be charged a higher fee to use the landfill than members of the district, Claar said.

“We’re going to lose this landfill if we don’t come up with the money,” he said, expressing that he realizes the issue doesn’t affect some people in the county, but there are an awful lot of people it does.

Commissioner Jeanne Whalen asked about a plan Moorcroft floated at one point to have a management company come in to run its landfill. Claar explained that the council had backed up from that idea because, “We got to looking and we could run it just as easily as [they] could run it. They weren’t putting any skin in the game.”

As the town would still have needed to pay for construction of the landfill, “Moorcroft was still going to have to foot the whole bill,” while the management company reaped the profit.

Whalen commented that she does not support the idea of a district that would assess a mill levy from the entire county if the landfill would not benefit everyone in the county. From her own situation, she pointed out that she would still need to pay $50 for her dumpster out in the county and so would not get anything out of it.

County Clerk Linda Fritz countered that private haulers will also need to transport their loads further without a landfill in the county, which means the cost of trash pickups for customers of those companies would likely go up. “It’s going to go up one way or another,” she said.

Whalen stated that she does understand the issue and believes it would be possible to carve out one district that covers the three towns that want to pursue this path, or separate districts for each that would then work together. Whalen said she would be supportive of this idea.

“It’s a big deal,” she acknowledged of the potential loss of a local landfill. “[The garbage has] got to go somewhere.”

Claar agreed, stating that, “A landfill in Crook County, in my opinion, is important.” He pointed out that it’s tough to clean up after a storm without one and that there is already an issue of people coming into town and “pirating” public dumpsters rather than pay for their own account, while other members of the audience pointed to trash being dumped in inappropriate places as a problem in the county.

Commissioner Fred Devish pointed out that it’s likely there are subdivisions throughout the county that would be interested in joining the district. Others should be included in the conversation, he said.

Commissioner Kelly Dennis stated that, for study purposes, he would be willing to draw a line around the cities, create a district, create a board representing each area and then see what the board has to say. If any subdivisions are interested, he added, “they can be drawn in”.

Dennis asked for the issue to be placed on the agenda for January’s meeting, expressing his belief that the commission should take time to think and research rather than hurrying its decision.