Transferring the transfer?

The Upper Platte River Solid Waste Disposal District (UPRSWDD) board convened 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Encampment Library to discuss the problem of trash being deposited in dumpsters on Veterans Island and to hear two local resident’s views on the new transfer station.

After routine business and bills were approved, Ron Munson, the Saratoga transfer station operator, said the loads going to the Hanna landfill were going well. Concerning the metal salvage pile and the wood waste pile being unsightly from the road, the board is looking at moving the piles to another location or possibly building a fence.

Doug Dupilsea came before the board to explain the problem he and his wife had with where the new transfer station was located.

Dupilsea said the view from their home was ruined and he had been under the impression in 2014, the building would be in another location. They also wanted to ask that the heavy equipment, the sheepsfoot and excavator, also be moved from the present location to make their view closer to what it once was.

The board said it was Munson’s decision. Dupilsea said he felt Munson and he could come to some agreement.

“The transfer station could not be in a worse spot,” Dupilsea said. “We found out that the original site had been a dump site, so the station could not be built there, without consideration of our view.”

Dupilsea said he and his wife, would like to work with the board to move the transfer station out of their view. The couple said they would be willing to cover the cost of moving the station.

The board told the couple that when the transfer station had to be relocated, legal notices were printed in newspapers indicating the move. The Dupilseas said they were out of the country at the time and did not see the notice.

“We are willing to pay for the move,” Dupilsea said.

Craig Kopasz, from Engineering Associates, said it was not only a matter of moving the transfer station to a new location from a cost perspective. Permits would have to be redone and it could take some time.

“That is a huge undertaking,” Sue Jones, a board member said. “We spent way over a million dollars of public money. We are mandated by the Department of Environmental Quality to keep the quality of the whole area, ground water level, pits and this could all make a difference.”

Jones said there was going to have to be a lot activity to get this done.

Randy Raymer, the chairman of the board, said he had asked the Dupilseas to consider some alternatives before the destruction of the present transfer station. A suggestion was to construct a berm on neighboring land to block the view of the building.

The Dupilseas had not heard from the owners of where the berm could be placed.

A possible location on the dump site on east side of the landfill was being considered for the new building if it was decided this was the action needed.

Board member Lloyd Buford said another issue of taking down the present structure and building a new one, would be a time window of time where residents would not have a transfer station. Dupilsea said this was problem that could be worked out if coordinated.

Jones said because the structure was new, a new building would have to be built to replace it.

Raymer told the Dupilseas to get back to the board if they heard from possible berm donors if that avenue was an impossibility.

The Dupilseas said they would get back to Raymer when they had that answer.

Board member Leroy Stephenson said the cost of electronics disposal charged by the current disposal contractor, Metech, was expensive and onsite disassembly was proposed. The board decided to look at what other landfills are doing with this problem.

Jones said the problem of hobo pool and Veterans Island dumpsters being used by people who were just not taking the time to go to the landfill needed to stop.

“Doing this is a theft of service,” Jones said. “It is not acceptable for people to use them because they don’t want to go to the landfill.”

“Danny Rollison, the old Evergreen owner, used to go through the trash to find clues of who was doing this,” Hank Jewell, a board member said.

The board agreed it hoped it would not come to that.

The next UPRSWDD board meeting is scheduled 7 p.m., Dec. 6 at Saratoga Town Hall.