HomeMy Public PortalAboutValley County, Idaho: Refuse disposaln Ws"
/o/i 4/9Z-
Valley landfill
stays open as
permits sought
BY SHARI HAMBLETON
The star -News
The Valley County landfill —
originally scheduled to be closed Fri-
day — will remain open indefinitely
until a conditional use permit can be
attained for the new transfer station,
Valley County Engineer Les
Ankenman said.
The permit application — submit-
ted by Valley County in September
— was reviewed by Central District
Health Department, Ankenman said.
"They asked for more information
and clarification of certain points"
before they will issue the permit.
A six-month extension of the fed-
eral regulations which forced the clo-
sure of the landfill gave Valley County
a reprieve from the initial Oct. 8 dead-
line.
But Ankenman said he expects the
conditional use permit to be issued
soon — possibly a week or two —
after which the landfill will be closed
and operation of the transfer site will
begin.
He said Central District Health
officials asked the county to clarify
the following items:
• An approval of the fire plan for
the transfer station site by Donnelly
Rural Fire District Chief Terry Gestrin.
• Details of the septic tank and
drain field area, which also requires a
permit from Central District Health
Department.
• Explanation of the storage and
disposal of wood and masonry rubble
accumulated at the site.
• Explanation of how hazardous
materials such as asbestos and medi-
cal wastes will be managed and dis-
posed of by the county.
"With any project of this magni-
tude there's going to be some give and
take," said Jeff Lappin, senior envi-
ronmental health specialist with Cen-
tral District Health. "It's a pretty long
involved process. These things take
time.
"It was a good application," Lappin
said. "But it's not an automatic rubber
stamp. Some of the things that needed
to be addressed were just small
changes in wording."
Gestrin said the transfer station
fire plan review and approval process
is simple.
"All we need to do is go over the
fire plan and look at the facility,"
Gestrin said. "I haven't seen what
Central District Health is asking for
specifically, but it sounded like they
just needed to look at the fire plan and
approve it."
Another issue which Valley
County needs to address, Lappin said,
is the handling of dead animals.
"We need some sort of disposal
plan for dead animals in Valley
County," he said. "We may not have
a place to put them (after the landfill
closes)."
Lappin said the controversy over
the burial of several head of cattle
adjacent to Cascade Reservoir recently
led to a discussion about a specific
disposal plan for dead animals in the
county.
The cattle, which were grazing on
Boise National Forest allotments, died
after drinking water from the reser-
voir which contained algae -produced
toxins.
While the cattle were not buried on
land owned by the county, the need to
develop a plan for disposal of animal
carcasses was spotlighted, Lappin
said.
As the county prepares for the tran-
sition to a transfer station site and
transportation of waste to a regional
landfill, Ankenman said many of the
county's solid waste ordinances are
being reviewed, consolidated and
"cleaned up so they don't conflict
with one another."
"Various County ordinances re-
garding the storage, handling, and
transportation of solid waste have been
adopted from time to time," a release
issued by Ankenman's office said.
"Some of the provisions have not
been enforced so they may not be
familiar to a number of citizens."
Ankenman said the county will
soon be enforcing ordinances which,
among other things, requires people
transporting garbage to cover it, pre-
venting roadway litter.
"The county employee acting as
gate keeper at the transfer station will
be observing the failure to comply,"
Ankenman's release said. "Warnings
will be issued initially with stronger
enforcement measures following if
the practice continues."
Other ordinances addressing
county solid waste include:
• Require the removal of "pu-
trescible" waste —garbage that spoils
— at least every seven days or more
frequently to prevent health hazards,
nuisances or pollution.
• The use of sanitary containers —
garbage cans between 20 to 32 gallon
capacity — for residences using solid
waste collection services from
Lakeshore Disposal.
Residential service is intended for
collection of ordinary household gar-
bage ... and does not include con-
struction debris, tree stumps, trunks,
large limbs, or logs, vehicle bodies or
bulk metals, tires, wheels, batteries,
used oil, appliances, furniture, indus-
trial or agricultural refuse, hot ashes,
animal feces or dead animals.
According to the release, the fol-
lowing items cannot be collected and
transported to the transfer station:
Poisons, acids, explosives, toxins or
toxic materials, medical wastes, as-
bestos, or radioactive materials.
For more information about the
disposal of specific items, call
i akeshore Disposal at 634-7176.
Federal rules leave Palley County
no place to put trash
'New regulations require
closing dump in October.
Commissioners say they
may have to truck garbage
to Canyon County landfill.
By Andrew Garber
The Idaho Statesman
Valley County needs a place
to put its trash.
The county, home to the re-
sort town of McCall, will be re-
quired by new federal regula-
tions to close its landfill by mid -
October.
The county's only option is to
haul garbage — 21,000 cubic
yards annually — about 150
miles to Canyon County's Pickle
Butte landfill, Valley County
Clerk Lee Heinrich said.
That means a lot of truck
trips, possibly down winding,
two-lane Idaho 55.
And Valley County has anoth-
er problem: Residents are oppos-
ing county efforts to build a
transfer station.
The building is needed so gar-
bage can be dumped, sorted and
packed into 44-foot-long semi-
trailers for the trip to Canyon
County.
Every site the county has pro-
posed for the station runs into
opposition, officials said.
"We're going to have to deal
with that no matter where we
place it," Valley County Com-
missioner Carl Kerrick said.
Commissioner Tom Olson said
the main problem is, "People
don't understand the difference
between a landfill and a transfer
station."
Dave Simmons, a McCall
builder and environmental ac-
tivist, said the main problem is
that the County Commission has
shut out the public.
"If they want to succeed at
this, they have to have a open,
public process," Simmons said.
He called for public hearings on
site selection.
Kerrick said the public has
had ample opportunity to get
involved.
Regardless of who's right,
time is running out.
Even if a decision were made
today, it would take several
months to get the station built,
commissioners said.
"We're really under the gun if
we're going to make tl}is work,"
Kerrick said. �\,� o
John Baker/Special to The Idaho Statesmai
Valley County Clerk Lee Heinrich stands by gar- needs to find another place for its garbage by mid
bage in the Valley County landfill. The county October, when the landfill is scheduled to close.
How county's garbage -hauling plan would work,
what it would cost
Here are some additional de-
tails about Valley County's
landfill situation:
■ The Valley County Com-
mission has a tentative five-year
agreement to haul garbage to
the federally certified Canyon
County landfill. That landfill is
expected to last another 200
years, officials said.
■ The garbage would be.
hauled in a 44-foot-long semi-
trailer two or three times a week
at first.
By the end of the five-year
contract, daily trips probably
would have to be made to ac-
commodate McCa11's growth, of-
ficials said.
The trucks may travel down
Idaho 55, a winding, two-lane
highway that follows stretches
of the North Fork of the Payette
River, officials said.
■ The county decided to haul
the trash because it couldn't af-
ford the $4 million cost of con-
structing a new landfill, com-
missioners said.
The hauling is expected to be
a long-term solution to the coun-
ty's problem.
■ Hauling the trash is expect-
ed to cost $300,000 to $400,000
annually. It currently costs the
county $290,000 annually to run
the landfill that will be closed.
■ The additional cost of haul-
ing garbage will be passed on to
customers.
The county's garbage fee is
expected to increase from $46 to
$50 annually, County Clerk Lee
Heinrich said.
Walley eyes current dump
for garbage transfer site
BY JAMES L. KINCAID
The Star -News
Valley County commissioners
said Monday they might use an area
near the current Valley County land-
fill as the site of a trash storage area
that would replace the landfill.
The commissioners made their
comments as they heard concerns
from Lake Fork area residents who
are unhappy with a proposal to
place the solid waste transfer station
near Lake Fork Creek. The resi-
dents have retained an attorney and
have not ruled out legal action to
block the proposed site.
About 45 people attended the
regular commissioners meeting at
the Valley County Courthouse in
Cascade.
"We may be able to locate the
site near the current landfill, but we
have not given up on the Lake Fork
site," Valley County Commission
Chairman Tom Olson said. "Allow
us to negotiate for the landfill site,
but if that does not work, look out."
"The Lake Fork area has at least
101 homes within a one mile radius
of the proposed site," Billie Walker
of Lake Fork said. "There are about
12 homes within a one mile radius
of the landfill site. We are very
concerned with the site being so
close to Lake Fork Creek."
Residents of the Lake Fork area
on March 8 presented the commis-
sioners with a petition signed by
about 110 people in protest of the
proposed transfer station site.
The commissioners agreed to
postpone a decision on the Lake
Fork site until Mondays meeting to
see if the petitioners could find ar
alternate site. The current landfill
located in the foothills east
Donnelly.
cerned about a water table because
wells are otir only source of water
out here."
Another co is the condition
of Lake Fork o , which would be
used to acces the transfer station,
Grems said. n addition, the inter-
section of the road and Idaho 55 of-
fers poor visibility that could lead to
accidents, she said.
Other concerns expressed at
Monday's meeting included blowing
trash, foul odors and possible effects
on the fishery in Lake Fork Creek.
"We sent the commissioners a
generic letter because we have not
seen specific proposals yet," said
Don Anderson, Idaho Department of
Fish and Game fisheries manager in
McCall. "We would like to see the
plans for the site and the transfer
station."
The F&G is concerned about the
possible effects of construction and
operation of the transfer station on
the stream, Anderson said. The
agency also is concerned whether the
proposed site is located on a flood
plain, whether the stream would be
altered and the effects on stream -side
"vegetation, he said.
"We also want to know how wa-
ter leaving the site would be handled
and if they will monitor and classify
toxic materials," Anderson said.
The F&G cannot evaluate the
Lake Fork site until its sees the de-
sign of the transfer station, Valley
County Engineer Les Ankenman
said.
Twenty-three possible sites have
been considered and they will be re-
considered, Ankenman said. All of
the sites were evaluated on several
bases including location, topogra-
phy, available power facilities, fish,
wildlife and vegetation, water qual-
ity and cost estimates, he said.
Reconsideration of all the sites,
using formerly compiled informa-
tion, should be completed in about a
week, Ankenman said. It is hoped
that construction of the transfer sta-
tion can begin early this summer,
he said.
"We didn't know we could put
the transfer station near the landfill
until a couple of weeks ago," Olson
said. "We favor the landfill site, but
will keep our optkons open."
"We didn't fin out about the
Lake Fork site until two weeks
ago," Grems said. "I don't think the
commissioners thought ; about a
transfer station site until' after the
first of the year because they were
looking for a dump site."
The proposed Lake Fork transfer
station site is located about one
mile northeast of Lake Fork on
county land near an existing county -
owned gravel pit.
The site of the proposed, en-
closed transfer station would be lo-
cated on about five acres of land
owned by the county. County offi-
cials would also like to acquire
about 160 acres of privately owned
land for a buffer around the enclosed
transfer station.
The possible site near the current
landfill, on land owned by Harold
Davis, of McCall, would use about/
four acres for the station site and
about 40 acres of buffer area,
Ankenman said.
The county and Davis have not
agreed on a purchase price for the
site on a ridge along the west side of
the landfill, Olson said.
The current landfill east of
Donnelly is scheduled to be closed
by Oct. 8 of this year. Earlier ef-
forts to find a new landfill site in
the county have failed. Plans call
for the trash to be gathered at
transfer station site and then trucked
to Pickle Butte near Caldwell.
No permit has been sought yet to
construct the station at any site,
Ankenman said. That application
would be made before the Valley
County Planning and Zoning
Comm ission.
There is a 45 day waiting period
after the application is made and the
first public hearing is held, Steve
Millemann, a McCall attorney hired
by the Lake Fork group.
"These people may appeal, and I
am not sure the commissioners can
rule on an appeal of their own pro-
posal," Millemann said. "It will
take time for the appeal and to de-
cide who hears the appeal."
,Ldh 14 // y Avoc-a - OL'
County starts work on transfer station site
CASCADE — Work has started on clearing the construction site of
Valley County's garbage transfer station, Valley County Commissioners
said Monday.
• Commissioner Carl Kerrick said the county has come to a verbal
agreement with Harold Davis, who operates the county's landfill, for the
sale of 47 acres near the existing landfill to be used for the transfer sta-
tion.
That agreement hasn't been formalized yet, he said. But with the
county facing a September deadline with the U.S. Environmental Protec-
tion Agency to have the landfill closed, he said they've gotten the okay
from Davis to begin clearing the site.
The county decided to try to build the station on Davis' property af-
ter their first location for the station, just east of Lake Fork on property
the county already owns, drew fire from Lake Fork -area residents con-
cerned about their property values and potential negative impacts on Lake
Creek water quality.
Davis is selling the property to the county for the transfer station, and
either the county or Lakeshore Disposal, which was awarded the con-
tract to provide collection services under the new program, will build the
station facilities, Kerrick said.
In any event, Commissioner Tom Olson said the county will end up
owning the transfer station, either through paying for its construction or
through a lease -purchase agreement with Lakeshore Disposal owner
Tony Totorica, if that company pays for its initial construction.
Also a part of the deal is the county's purchase of the right-of-way
and the segment of the road on Davis' property that will access the trans-
fer station.
The road leading to the landfill from Farm -to -Market will also have
to be upgraded to handle the semi -tractor truck traffic that will result with
the shipment of solid waste to Canyon County.
Comparing the cost of the transfer station built on the Davis proper-
ty with that of constructing it at the Lake Fork site, Olson said it may
cost a bit more for construction. But there will be a savings in what he
termed "procedural costs" as the county won't have to go through Valley
County's Planning and Zoning Commission for a conditional use permit
as would be the case with the Lake Fork site.
7'he i9ctvocate fl ug tf, /q93
Transfer station negotiations hit snag
CASCADE — With a couple of minor snags,
Valley County Commissioners are close to reach-
ing an agreement with Lakeshore Disposal that
would have that company's owner Tony Totorica
secure the financing for construction of a waste
transfer station at the site of the county landfill east
of Donnelly.
Under the arrangement that the county is seek-
ing with Totorica, he would secure about $200,000
in financing to build a covered transfer station and
two smaller buildings at the site the county has ac-
quired from Harold Davis, current operator of the
county's landfill.
That landfill must be shutdown by September
under new Environmental Protection Agency regu-
lations. It has forced the county to seek an alterna-
tive method of waste disposal which will include
trucking solid waste to Canyon County.
Though both sides are close to reaching an
agreement on the project, there were still a few
stumbling blocks discussed at Monday's meeting
of the Valley County Commission.
Those snags have to do with the length of the
contract the county will enter into with Totorica,
whose proposal for hauling and operating the trans-
fer station was accepted from among 8 proposals
made to the county.
Totorica told commissioners that he's been a
good operator for the county for the past 10 -years
and hopes they consider that and extend the con-
tract or otherwise give him some sort of right to
match the offer made by another hauler in six years
when the contract would expire.
The term of the contract outlined in the pro-
posal solicited by the county called for a six -year
term. Totorica said he knew that when he submit-
ted his proposal, but said it's very difficult, if not
impossible, for him to obtain financing over that
shorter period.
Another snag in coming to terms had to do
with the amount of financing Totorica would have
to obtain. With the county taking care of some of
the expense of the estimated $340,000 project
through work county employees would do, and
through the expenditure of some money the coun-
ty already has, the amount of financing needed was
determined to be $200,000.
Steve Millemann, Totorica's attorney, argued
a bit over whether the length of contract outlined in
the proposal was necessarily binding as the whole
process of negotiation has been a relatively fluid
one.
'This wasn't a bid process," he said. Bur' in-
missioners said they have the public's interest to
look after.
"My concern with the longer term is that it
makes sense to be able to get together with the pub-
lic ... to make sure we're getting the best bang for
the buck," Commissioner Carl Kerrick said. That
would allow commissioners to review Lakeshore's
performance, he said.
"I guess we thought six years was a good com-
promise, long enough for Tony and frequent
enough for us," Kerrick said.
Commission Chairman Tom Olson said it
wasn't fair to others who submitted proposals
based on a six -year contract to re -work things and
allow for a 10-year contract.
"I appreciate that," Millemann said. "But what
you're hearing is real," he said in referring to To-
torica's statements about the availability of financ-
ing. Totorica told commissioners that the area is
growing and will continue to grow, and he needs
the ability to grow with it. He said it will be impos-
sible for him to finance the purchase of new equip-
ment he might need to deal with growth two or
three years into the contract and only three or four
years remaining.
Millemann said he was also concerned about
the requirement by the county of a $100,000 sure-
ty bond, saying the cost of such a bond has proven
to be quite high.
Commissioners, Totorica and Millemann
agreed to meet again next Monday evening to get
an agreement signed so the project can continue to
move forward.
J /1J )/e .f 9/z3/3
Valley landfill
to stop accepting
trash after Oct. 8
The Valley County solid waste
landfill near Donnelly has been tar-
geted for closure Friday, Oct. 8, at 5
p.m., according to the Valley County
Solid Waste Department.
A new transfer station to handle
the county's garbage will open the
following day, Oct. 9, at 9 a.m.
The Clean Water Act legislation
made continued operation of the land-
fill "impractical," requiring the county
to prove the material in the landfill did
not adversely affect the area's ground-
water.
Valley County Commissioners
opted for the construction of a trans-
fer station at which solid waste could
be collected, sorted and transported to
the Pickle Butte landfill located south
of Caldwell in Canyon County.
Lakeshore Disposal of McCall will
operate the transfer station, which is
located at the end of Spink Lane,
about 600 feet north of the present
landfill. The landfill has been the only
approved landfill site in the county
for the past 17 years, according to the
release.
Operational cost for the transfer
station will be in the form of a flat
annual fee of $50 per Valley County
household for the 1993-94 fiscal year,
which starts Oct. 1, and a gate fee
which has not yet been determined.
The gate fee will be designed to
reward users for separating their solid
waste loads. Higher gate fees will be
charged for mixed and contaminated
loads, the release said.
Items can be separated into the
following types:
• Household garbage
• Wood and materials containing
wood fibre
• Clean soil and masonry rubble
• Whole tires, batteries, etc.
• Metals, appliances, etc.
Items the transfer station will not
accept include:
• Hazardous waste (except that
considered to be household hazard-
ous waste), asbestos, medical waste,
liquids in bulk containers, radioactive
waste, and lead or oil base paint or
containers of paint.
A recycling program is currently
operating in three sites — Cascade,
Donnelly and McCa11 — and a fourth
will be operated at the transfer sta-
tion, according to the release.
Recyclable items include: card-
board, newsprint, aluminum, tin, and
clear container glass.
For more information about either
the landfill or the transfer station, call
the Valley County Engineer's office
at 382-4171, or Lakeshore Disposal
at 634-7176.
In the 50s you took it to the dump.
In the 70s you took it to a landfill.
In the 90s you'll take it to Tony...
44,04
It's not
ust
"The daywhen the garbage truck backs
up to the landfill, opens the back door,
dumps the garbage and drives away is
over."
—Tony Totorica
Photo by Shari Hambleton
Totorica aims to be county's first successful recycler
BY SHARI HAMBLETON
The star -News
Over the past few years, Valley County has
experimented with various approaches to
recycling in order to find a feasible, long-term
plan. Today, Tony Totorica hopes he will be
the one who can make recycling work.
"The day when the garbage truck backs up
to the landfill, opens the back door, dumps the
garbage and drives away is over," said
Totorica, owner of Lakeshore Disposal in
McCall. The '90s is the decade
of the environment and you're
going to see the garbage being
pulled out of the waste stream and
separated into recyclable com-
modities."
County residents have come a
long way in their understanding of
the necessity of recycling and
sophistication of recycling issues
over the past few years, according
to those who have worked on the
issue.
But that progress hasn't come
easy for those who first did the
work locating recycling markets
and resources, negotiating
transportation routes and rates and
privately funding recycling
centers in McCall, Donnelly and
Cascade.
Most fundamental of all was
the task of educating the public.
"In 1989 we started looking
around to see what was going Qn
with recycling," said Cindi Lei
Brett of McCall. "At that time, the
school — with an effort by the
teachers and faculty — had a
program where they were
handling the majority of recy-
clable materials; all colors of
glass, newspaper, aluminum,
cardboard and tin.
But the problem was that
teachers were having to take their
personal time to clean up the area,
Le Brett said. "It required a lot of
maintenance and the broken glass
and mess in the playground area
concerned the faculty," she said.
So Cindi and Tony Le Brett
took over the program, moved the
materials off the school grounds and embarked
on a venture which resulted in the creation of
ECO of McCall, which stood for "Ecology
Conscious Only."
Cindi Le Brett and others took their vision
of a community recycling program to area
schools in the form of an educational program,
teaching children about recycling, why it was
important and how it was accomplished.
It worked.
"The community was receptive and the
volume slowly started to increase," Le Brett
said.
In the beginning, Le Brett planned to pay
for aluminum and precious metals brought to
the recycling center. But because of the high
cost of transportation to processing centers in
Boise, it was difficult just to get the recyclables
collected, packaged and transported in an
economically enough manner to make a small
profit — a goal which Le Brett said was never
realized.
1-�P. for /YPpVs -
Added to the cost of
transportion, she said, was the
fact that the market for
recyclables was steadily swelling
with raw material supplies,
driving prices down.
Participation on the part of
Valley County residents has been
driven by a sense of community
and environmental responsibility
rather than financial return, she
said.
ECO of McCall continued to
loose ground financially. Unable
to cover fixed costs like building
and equipment leases, Le Brett
went first to the city of McCall
and then to Valley County
commissioners for support.
The city gave Le Brett a cool
reception, but commissioners
were more receptive, offering Le
Brett a subsidy to cover fixed
costs.
"We had worked so long,
financing the project out of our
own pockets with no profit at all
that we just needed something
more. We needed salaries," Le
Brett said.
The decision was made in
1992 to close ECO of McCall,
and Le Brett went to work for the
county as a recycling consultant,
helping Valley County bring
recycling under its own umbrella
of responsibility. She held that
position for about a year.
Valley County has faced the
same dilemmas Le Brett experi-
enced trying to establish an
economical recycling program.
Those problems have been com-
pounded by new federal regulations
which ultimately have resulted in the
closure of the county's landfill, mak-
ing it necessary to transport not only
recyclables but also all of the garbage
previously disposed of at the site.
County commissioners have spent
the last year reevaluating the entire
solid waste program, said Totorica,
whose company has been collecting
residential and commercial garbage
throughout the county for the past 10
years.
"The commissioners told me last
year they were reevaluating the whole
thing and that they were putting out a
request for proposals for the four dif-
ferent areas; solid waste collection,
operation of a transfer station, recy-
cling center and long haul (of solid
waste) to a regional landfill," he said.
Totorica submitted proposals and
was eventually awarded the contract
for the entire program.
Now its up to him to institute a
workable plan for recycling. And he
does have a plan.
"Recycling is labor intensive,"
Totorica said. "Every time you handle
the material ... every time it's handed
off to someone else, it gets more ex-
pensive."
So Totorica purchased four spe-
cially designed compartmental recy-
cling trailers which will be placed in
various convenient locations around
the area. Items taken will be limited to
clear glass, newspapers, cardboard,
aluminum and tin.
After the bins become full, they
will be picked up by a lift truck and
taken to a recycling center, dumped,
the material compressed, bundled and
transported to Boise.
Much of the structure for what
Totorica will be doing can be attrib-
uted to the early work of people like
Le Brett and others whose efforts
have essentially diverted a strong and
growing bulk of material away from
the county's landfill.
While before those attempts were
driven by various influences, now the
push is to cut down on what must be
transported out of the area to the re-
gional land fill. That essentially will
cut down on the expense of transpor-
tation, Totorica said.
"We'd much rather get as much of
the waste stream as we can in the form
of recyclables to centers in Boise and
get something back for it than have to
transport it to the regional land fill and
have to pay for it," he said.
Valley landfill closes Friday
BY SHARI HAMBLETON
The Star -News
The Valley County landfill is still set to be closed
Friday at 5 p.m. even though U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency regulations which resulted in the
closure have been extended until next April.
While the EPA extension may give Valley County breath-
ing room, Valley County Engineer Les Ankenman said the
county still plans to close the landfill on Friday and open its
new transfer on Saturday.
The closure of the landfill, located in the foothills east of
Donnelly, may affect the way county residents handle their
solid waste, according to county officials.
"The current landfill practice has been to receive a wide
variety of mixed waste material, to sort and store it over a long
period of time and to bury the rest of the material (in the
landfill)," a release from Ankenman's office said.
The transfer station, located at the current landfill site, will
be operated to process materials and dispose of them in a short
time. The materials which cannot be sorted and shipped to
recycling markets will be transported to a regional landfill in
Canyon County.
While household garbage brought to the transfer station will
not be charged a fee, there will be a charge for specialty items
such as construction debris, appliances, tires and batteries.
The fee schedule has not yet been set, but will be designed
to encourage separation of garbage loads by charging more for
those that are mixed. When established, rates will be published
and posted at the transfer station.
Residents are encouraged to separate garbage as it is dis-
carded, making it easier to load and
transport to the transfer station.
Items should be separated in the
following categories: household gar-
bage, wood and materials containing
wood fibre, clean masonry rubble and
soils, recyclables, whole tires, bulk
metals, batteries, and used motor oil.
Recyclable materials include: card-
board, newspaper, aluminum, and
tin.
County officials say the most con-
venient way to use the transfer station
is to arrange residential garbage pick-
up by Lakeshore Disposal, the refuse
company contracted by Valley County
to handle solid waste and operation of
the transfer station.
Part-time residents may also ar-
range collection by Lakeshore Dis-
posal.
h 9tca w'3 Nov ill199.3
Valley opens
trash station
Tuesday marked the first day of
operation for the new Valley County
transfer station site, located near the
Valley County landfill east of Don-
nelly.
The "Material Recover Facility"
opened at 9 a.m. Tuesday and re-
ceived its first loads of household
garbage as refuse trucks completed
garbage pickup routes throughout the
area, Lakeshore Disposal owner Tony
Totorica said.
The first trailer load of garbage
was transported "on its maiden voy-
age" to the regional landfill in Can-
yon County on Wednesday, Totorica
said.
"I'm very delighted," he said. `.`It's
a new addition to our business and it's
a new venture."
He said that while household gar-
bage will now be handled at the trans-
fer station, construction debris will
continue to be placed in the landfill
until the landfill is closed on April 9,
1994.
In a related item, Lakeshore Dis-
posal began direct billing last month
for both residential and commercial
garbage disposal in Valley County.
The billing previously was handled
by Valley County. Lakeshore cus-
tomers will notice a number of changes
on their monthly bills, including the
following:
Residential Pickup
• Bills for garbage pickup will be
mailed quarterly with payment due
within 30 days of the billing. Service
will be stopped if payment is not
received in that time and a $15 han-
dling fee will be added to the account.
• Returned checks will be assessed
a $15 fee which will be added to the
account.
Guidelines for residential garbage
pickup include:
• Each residential customer is al-
lowed up to three cans or three large
tied garbage bags of household gar-
bage. Anything over the limit will be
picked up for an added charge.
• Garbage should be put out for
pickup by 7 a.m. on the scheduled
route day.
Commercial Pickup
• Billing will be on a monthly basis
with the same fees assessed for late
payments and returned checks.Nei they
residential or commercial garbage
includes: construction debris, tree
stumps, trunks, large limbs or logs,
vehicle bodies or bulk metals, tires,
wheels, batteries, used oil, appliances,
furniture, industrial or agricultural
refuse, hot ashes, animal feces or dead
animals, poison, acids, explosives,
toxins or toxic material, medical
waste, asbestos or radioactive materi-
als, dirt and rocks.
/Onq )e /gyp y r-lroc-a�� /- A/ q 3
New refuse station experiencing
growing pains
Ray Stout
Staff Writer
MCCALL — In four weeks of operation of the
new Materials Recovery Facility northeast of
Donnelly, workers at the former landfill site have
already been scrambling to keep up, according to
operator Tony Totorica.
The MRF — now properly called a "merf," no
longer "transfer station" — has been sending its
two new walking -floor trailers to the Canyon
County landfill and back more frequently than
expected, said Totorica, owner of Lakeshore
Disposal.
Although the snow has resulted in only seven
or eight visitors dropping off materials each day,
he said, the volume is substantial.
"We're not able to keep up with the flow right
now." Totorica said. "I think there's been more of
a flow than we all anticipated. And this is the dead
of the season in Valley County."
He had thought three round trips a week to the
Canyon County landfill would be enough, he said,
but the average has been five.
The MRF is designed to accommodate house-
hold debris, which from there is sent to Canyon
County. Non -household, or construction, debris
is destined for the old Davis landfill nearby, 95
percent of which has been closed, said Totorica.
The recyclables, he said, are not yet handled at the
MRF but sent to Western Recycling in Boise.
Before the MRF began operating, he said,
garbage was simply dumped into the landfill and
covered. But now, "you become aware of how
much garbage there really is when you see it
processed in the transfer trailers," Totorica said.
"It's surprising."
However, Valley County Engineer Les Ankenman
said the new facility has been running "nominal-
ly the way we anticipated." He said it was too early
for concern about the additional trips to Canyon
County.
Chris Hull, who collects dumping fees for
Valley County at the site, said it's a good idea for
people to find out what's there before they bring
materials to dump.
"We encourage people to come up just to look,
if nothing else, just to see what a transfer station
is," he said.
Problems that have surfaced include the appear-
ance in the household -garbage waste stream of
tires, batteries and oil -based containers, all of which
have to be recycled.
"It's been more than we anticipated seeing in
the waste stream," said Totorica. "The contract
with Canyon County doesn't permit us to take it
to their landfill."
In addition, household garbage has been found
mixed in with the construction debris.
The early stages of the project have been "a lot
of trial and error," Totorica said. Yet to be com-
pleted are construction of a maintenance building
and a study of potential sites for a recyclables-pro-
cessing facility.
Sorting of recyclables out of the waste stream
will begin after bailers are acquired to fasten bun-
dles of materials together, Totorica said. The recy-
clable white metal goods, such as washers and dry-
ers, will be ready for recycling after completion
of the maintenance building, which will include a
mechanism for removing the freon.
Totorica said, the facility will also need an addi-
tional trailer or two in the near future.
"I project we're going to have to have four trail-
ers to make this operation run smoothly," he said.
The pritnary goal for the MRF, said Totorica,
is to be fully equipped and operational by May 1
while the landfill must comply with federal sub-
title D regulations by Oct. 9.
"Right now, we're fighting with the elements,"
he said. 'Next spring we're going to be fighting
with the volume coming in."
1-.Ohe 143I0,y Advocate
.De.c, t, i q9y
Valley Countys new solid waste
disposal program working well
Program marks first year of operation
CASCADE — One year into the program, and
Valley County's new solid waste disposal program,
which involves shipping waste to Canyon County
instead of operating a landfill, is working well, Valley
County officials said here Monday.
With figures from the first year of operation in
hand, the Valley County Commissioners said it looks
like it's going to work out about as well as they fig-
ured.
Though the figures for expenditures and revenues
aren't exactly in balance — something that might
be expected of a program with a first -year budget of
nearly $350,000 — the numbers aren't so far off that
Commissioners will be scrambling for money. Or,
even worse, hitting up county property owners with
an increase in the solid waste disposal fee.
That budget has shrunk a bit for the current year,
as included in the just -concluded year's budget were
some one-time start-up costs.
"It means we can go another year without an
increase in solid waste fees," Valley County Clerk
Lee Heinrich said about the numbers.
"It means it's working," Commission Chairman
Tom Olson said.
About two years ago, faced with new water qual-
ity standards imposed by the federal Environmental
Protection Agency, along with few, if any really suit:
able sites to be found in the county for a new land-
fill, Commissioners decided to pursue transporting
waste out of the county.
After an agreement was reached with Canyon
County, which had just constructed a new approved
landfill, Commissioners decided to closedown the
existing landfill northeast of Donnelly and build a
transfer station.
Solid waste collected around the county is taken
to that transfer station, sorted, compressed and then
loaded on trucks for transfer to the Canyon County
site.
Helping to keep the program in the black is rev-
enue generated from gate fees charged those who
transport their own garbage to the landfill. Those
fees totalled more than $43,000 during the first year
of operation. And that total doesn't reflect an addi-
tional $22,000 collected from the U.S. Forest Service
for garbage transported to the transfer station from
the busy firecamps of this past summer.
The balance of the operation is paid for by the
solid waste fees charged county residents.
In other matters, the Commissioners discussed
the new county regulation regarding covering dump-
sters. The uncovered dumpsters are collectors of
snow and ice and the county is paying for that to be
shipped to Canyon County. As a result, commercial
dumpsters in the county are now required to be cov-
ered. Lakeshore Disposal, the vendor is working
towards the installation of covers on all of its dump-
sters.
Commissioners are also facing replacement of
two members of the Valley County Planning &
Zoning Commission. Elting Hasbrouck has resigned,
and Glenn Loomis, whose term will expire in January,
has announced his intention to step aside after 19
years on the board.
Loomis is willing to stay on, however, if Ralph
McKenzie is unable to re -adjust his work schedule
to allow him to attend more meetings.
County Engineer Les .Ankenman, also said he's
been contacted by the City of McCall, regarding the
city s proposed plan for disposing of its sewage sys-
tem effluent by doing land application on property
south of Lake Fork.
He told Commissioners that he's passed the mat-
ter on to the P&Z Commission, as the project is going
to require a Conditional Use Permit from the coun-
ty.
Also in need of some legal consideration are set-
backs from residential uses in the area, and the def-
inition of residential development — an issue the
P&Z Commission has battled with before — and
also a legal ruling on what constitutes the "facility."
The question there is to what extent will setback
requirements apply to pipelines leading to and from
the land application site and a storage lagoon that
will be constructed later as part of the project.
Valley County
proposes 50% hike
in transfer site fees
BY MICHAEL WELLS.
The Star -News
Valley County wants to in-
crease its solid waste fee by 50
percent to fix a budget shortfall
at the county's transfer station
east of Donnelly.
The Valley County Board of
Commissioners will consider
rate hikes for the solid waste
for residential, commercial
and gate fees at a public hear-
ing set for 11 a.m. Monday at
the Valley County Courthouse
in Cascade.
Currently, homeowners
pay a $65 per year solid waste
fee to pay the county's expense
to remove trash from the trans-
fer site located on Spink Lane.
The new rate for residential
would be $97.50.
Business owners now pay
between $65 and $1,519 in solid
waste fees to the county. Com-
mercial fees would increase
to a range of $97.50 to $2,279
under the proposal.
Fees charged for various
items at the gate of the transfer
station also would increase by
50 percent under the proposal,
including:
• Auto and light truck tires
would rise from $2 each to $3
each.
• A load of brush that costs
$3.50 now would cost $5.25.
• Separated wood construc-
tion debris that costs $16 now
would cost $24.
The proposal would not af-
fect monthly fees charged for
collecting trash and are also
separate from the county's
recycling operation.
The fee increases are being
considered because of the
increased cost of transporta-
tion of the trash to a landfill
in Mountain Home, Valley
County Clerk Archie Banbury
said.
"The current rates were set
when the cost of diesel was $3,
now it's gone up to as much as
$5," Banbury said.
The increase would also
go to offset increases in work-
er's compensation insurance
rates.
If the fee increases are not
put into place, the budget for
solid waste would be short
about $300,000 this year, Ban-
bury said.
Last year the county's
budget to operate the site was
about $1.4 million. This year's
budget calls for $1.9 million.
The county collected about
$477,000 from gate receipts
through August for the fis-
cal year that ended Sept: 30.
September figures were not
available.
The county also billed
residential and commercial
customers about $770,000 in
solid waste fees last year.
Lakeshore Disposal oper-
ates the transfer site.
The fee increase also con-
siders the transfer site will
need to be enlarged in the
future, Banbury said.
The county has one full-
time employee and one
part-time employee at the
site. Lakeshore Disposal has
four employees at the site and
four -long -haul drivers.
Lake Shore holds off on recycling cutbacks
Trash company will continue talks with Valley County
BY DAN GALLAGHER
for The Star -News
Lake Shore Disposal is holding off on scaling back its services at Valley County recycling depots as it
negotiates with the county over its rates, company officials say.
Last month, Lake Shore Site Manager Everette Arter said the company had increased the number of
visits to the recycling stations in the three towns.
However, the county continued to pay Lake Shore at the level established in a 2003 agreement.
Lake Shore had given the county commissioners until Feb. 1 to raise its monthly payments from
$2,130 to $6,500 at which time the number of visits were threatened to be reduced.
"The county has asked us not to do it," Arter said "As long as we're negotiating in good faith, we will
continue to service them at the current level."
In 2003, Lake Shore agreed it would spend four hours a day, five days per week, processing and
bailing recyclables. Since then it has doubled that time or more each day without extra pay, although
costs such as fuel, labor and insurance have all climbed, Arter said.
A roaming employee keeps the sites neat during the week and Lake Shore is hauling away more
recycling containers than in years past.
He said Lake Shore had asked for an increase in hauling and recycling rates. The commissioners
tumed down the hauling hike and never gave the company a reply on the recycling duties, Arter said.
The money Valley County pays to Lake Shore for recycling is a subsidy since the various paper and
metal brought in do not completely pay Lake Shore for its recycling costs, he said.
http://www.mccallstarnews.com/pages/fp_stories,page.php 2/9/2012
This week's front page stories
Page 1 of 1
Valley County to stop taking glass for recycling
Current use of glass in road beds too costly
"Glass is heavy, dangerous to handle and has little or no market value. "—Rachele Klein
BY DAN GALLAGHER
for The Star -News
Valley County will no longer accept glass for recycling starting Jan. 1.
The county and its waste contractor, Lake Shore Disposal, will stop collecting
glass from the county's recycling sits in McCall, Donnelly and Cascade.
The glass has no value as a recycled material, but the county has been
crushing the glass and using it as base material for road projects
But a study of the costs of using glass for roads found it would be cheaper to
have Lake Shore haul it away, Valley County Solid Waste Supervisor Ralph
McKenzie said.
The county spends $157 more per cubic yard to add glass to a road project
over the cost of using gravel, McKenzie said.
Bottles, particularly wine bottles, are difficult to crush, forcing extra gravel to be
laid over the glass to prevent tires from being punctured by protruding edges, he
said.
The cost of removing garbage from the bottles and jars was not considered in
the analysis, but is significant, McKenzie said.
.:c
Star News Photo by l""m Got.
Lynn Monslata of
t.lc( .al dssposes of glass
bottles on Monday at
the McCall'eccchng
center Palley County
�nll dcscoutmue
collecting glass lot
recycling on Jan i
The county still has a stockpile it will plow into the roads until that supply is used up.
Similar Problem Elsewhere
The situation is similar throughout the country, especially in rural areas that transport the materials
over great distances to recycling centers like Portland and Salt Lake City, McKenzie said.
Republic Services, which collects solid waste in Ada, Canyon and Elmore counties, sends its glass to
Environmental Abrasives of Boise, which pulverizes it for uses such as sandblasting, said Rachele Klein,
Republic business development manager.
Boise had a deal with the Ada County Highway District to accept the glass for road base, but not
enough new roads were being built to use up the glass, Klein said.
"Glass is a tricky material to recycle because it is heavy, dangerous to handle and has little or no
market value," she said. "That being said, people are very emotionally committed to recycling glass."
Owens-Ilinois, Inc., accepts glass at its Portland plant, but it must be separated by color and cleaned,
said Rick Gillihan, general manager of Westem Recycling in Boise.
"They pay little to nothing for it, and it certainly isn't close to covering your freight costs," Gillihan said.
The county's decision is a sad note, said Mary Hart of Lake Fork, who worked with the citizens group
Recycle Partners to foster recycling.
"I'm disappointed that we - not just Valley County, the state and United States - don't have an option
for recycling glass," Hart said. "Ifs really discouraging," she said. "I don't see it as waste, but as a
resource. The first rule is to reduce."
Glass may take more landfill space, but it is an inert material that lasts for thousands of years and will
not leach pollutants into the groundwater, McKenzie said.
http://www.mccallstarnews.com/pages/fp_stories_page.php 12/6/20l 2
This week's front page stories Page 1 of 1
Valley transfer station handled 10,220 tons of trash in 2014
BY DAN GALLAGHER
for The Star -News
Valley County's transfer site east of Donnelly handled 10,220 tons of materials in the last fiscal year,
but that is less than half the amount coming in when the construction industry was in full swing.
The figures were provided to Valley County commissioners on Monday by Ralph McKenzie, who
administers the county's solid waste program.
Commissioner Elt Hasbrouck noted that the amount of household garbage, appliances, tires and other
waste brought to the site appeared to be increasing by about 1,000 tons per year.
But that is a far cry from the days that huge new subdivisions were in the works for Valley County and
contractors were bringing in more far truckloads of construction waste.
"If you went back to 2007, it was 24,000 tons," commission Chair Gordon Cruickshank said.
Since then, the transfer facility has been upgraded to process more waste, McKenzie said.
Receipts from the transfer station from the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 was about $379,000, the
same as 2013, he said.
The county received $45,000 in sales of recyclables last year, but that was offset by a reduction in
hauling demolition waste, which was opened to private companies last year, McKenzie said.
Those private haulers may take waste to a landfill in the Weiser area, or to the same Mountain Home
landfill where Valley County sends its waste.
Lakeshore Disposal is on contract with the county to transfer and haul away its residential and
commercial trash.
Lakeshore charged just under $900,000 in the last fiscal year, compared with about $870,000 the year
before, McKenzie said.
http://www.mccallstarnews.com/pages/fp stories_page.php 12/11/2014
Star -News News Main News Page Page 1 of 1
85% favor roadside recycling by Lake Shore
Company seeks to replace recycling centers in Valley County
BY TOM GROTE
for The Star -News
A total of 85 percent of respondents to an online survey said they favored roadside recycling in Valley
County.
The survey, sponsored by Lake Shore Disposal, also found that 42 percent of respondent would be
willing to pay up to $5 more per month to help pay for the new service, while an additional 47 percent
would be willing to pay up to $10 more per month.
A total of 394 people had responded by Tuesday to the survey, which was posted last month.
Lake Shore is hoping to convince officials in Valley County and the cities of McCall, Donnelly and
Cascade to begin roadside recycling.
Under the proposal, roadside recycling would use bins similar to the green bins now used for trash.
All recyclables would be co -mingled, with no need to separate tin, aluminum, plastic and paper. Glass
is not now accepted for recycling but would be studied as part of the proposal.
Only current customers of Lake Shore Disposal would have roadside recycling added. Solid waste
collection is voluntary in McCall and outside city limits, but is mandatory in Cascade and Donnelly.
There would be an added monthly charge for curbside recycling, but the goal would be to also reduce
the county's annual solid waste assessment, which was $85 last year, Lake Shore Site Manager Paul
Dionne said.
The assessment pay for the operation of the county's transfer station on Spink Road east of Donnelly,
while the monthly fees pay collection costs.
Lake Shore would make fewer semi -truck trips to a landfill in Mountain Home if more household trash
was recycled, Dionne said.
The main benefit of roadside recycling would be the elimination of recycling centers in McCall,
Donnelly and Cascade, he said.
The centers have had constant problems with litter and they are not convenient to use by many
residents, Dionne said.
Public meetings and other public information will be conducted before Lake Shore makes a formal
proposal to the county and cities, he said.
Lake Shore Disposal is owned by Waste Connections Inc., a Texas company that has more than two
million customers in 31 states.
Survey respondents were also asked to provide written comments.
Here are some excerpts. All comments were submitted anonymously:
We need curbside recycling! The central facilities are a mess. I would also appreciate the
convenience."
"I think it would be beneficial to all Valley County Residents and instill more recycling habits having it
picked up at your curb rather than driving to a center. I think glass recycling is also necessary and l
would pay a little extra for that as well."
"I think this is a GREAT idea as would obviously encourage more people to recycle, and also help
eliminate people leaving recyclable crap at the recycle station in town!"
"Using the present recycling is pretty bad. The bins need to be emptied more frequently. So curbside
is a great option."
"The recycling center right now are a joke. Too much garbage and not maintained."
"The issue is not curbside pickup/recycling - it is Lakeshore's inability or unwillingness to adequately
and professionally manage and maintain the current recycling collection point - what a mess!!!"
"We are 40 years behind many community in the country on recycling. Let's protect our environment
and save our beautiful city and county for our children to grow up in."
"The real solution is to redesign the recycling centers to allow easier deposit and disposal of the
recyclables. The current solution in McCall leaves much to be desired. I don't want to pay for another bin
that takes up space and needs to be set out every week. Especially during winter."
http://www.mccallstarnews.com/pages/fp_stories_page.php 1 /7/2016