Bigfork asks county to hold off on dump closure plans

Bigfork residents spilled out the Flathead County Landfill Office conference room doors Monday night to ask the county solid waste board to consider other alternatives before making the final decision to close the Bigfork green box site on Montana 83.

“Solutions exist,” Bigfork resident Al Johnson told board members during the meeting. “Don’t make a decision until you’ve talked to all these folks.”

Johnson spoke at the tail end of the solid waste board’s monthly meeting during a period dedicated to public comment on the closure of both the Bigfork and Lakeside green box sites.

Although a public meeting on the Bigfork site is to be scheduled in the spring, chairman of the board Hank Olson made it sound like the board was intent on sticking to what was laid out in the strategic management adopted by the solid waste board in 2009.

“We want to close it,” Olson said.

The strategic management plan set out a schedule for consolidating Flathead County green box sites to a more efficient number for the county to manage. The county wants to bring all their green box sites to a standard of being manned, fenced and gated to alleviate safety concerns and revenue loss. And they want to do it without raising the annual $80.73 assessment paid by Flathead County residents.

Kila and Marion have already consolidated into one site on U.S. Highway 2. Green box sites on the middle fork of the Flathead River will consolidate into one site in the spring of 2013. The last steps on the county’s consolidation list are closing the sites in Bigfork and Lakeside, with Bigfork’s site tentatively scheduled as next in line to close. Bigfork dump users will be diverted to the Creston and Somers sites.

Space is the standout reason the Solid Waste Board listed for needing to close the site. Ideally the site layout would allow for garbage trucks to pick up on one side of the green boxes and residents to drop off trash on the other side. Flathead County Public Works Director Dave Prunty said the Bigfork site is too small for that layout, which makes it dangerous for county trucks and residents to maneuver in.

He also said if the county fenced in the site, like they want to, it would make the site one third smaller than it already is. He told meeting attendees there is no space for expansion because the county leases the site from the Montana Department of Transportation and it’s surrounded by private land.

Bigfork Steering Committee member Sally Hangar told the board icy roads are also dangerous, especially Montana 82, which is where Bigfork green box site users would be directed. She also said Bigfork might be able to make the site bigger if they spoke with the private landowner.

Like many other speakers, Hangar pointed to Bigfork’s volunteerism and ability to solve problems for the good of their community. She said if given the opportunity to come up with a solution and make their case to the board, Bigfork could come up with a solution to keep their green box site.

“It is difficult, but it is do-able,” Hangar said. “This is about people, not just budgets.”

Community Foundation for a Better Bigfork president Paul Mutascio said the county has only considered the effect closing the green box sites would have on the Solid Waste Department, not the effect on the communities themselves.

“We just need to put our heads together and come up with all the options and all the the impacts, not only to the Bigfork citizens, but to the county as a whole,” Mutascio told the board. “What you guys see as barriers, we see as obstacles to be overcome.”