After disagreements between council members on city yard waste drop-off at last Monday’s city council meeting, the Bowling Green Yard Waste Collection site opened temporarily to eligible residents last Friday.
Eligible residents include those who receive a collection of curbside pickup of garbage and recycling.
Municipal Administrator John Fawcett said after discussing the issue with city council, they have decided to use the drop-off as a temporary substitute option.
“We’ve listened to the input from our citizens and, working with city council, decided to reopen the site on a temporary basis while the use of the site or alternatives are more thoroughly examined,” Fawcett said.
The city’s yard waste drop-off site is located at the Public Works Facility at 815 E. Poe Rd. and will reopen at 8 a.m. Friday. Its regular hours will be daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The drop-off is only for “green waste” and is only eligible for residents who receive curbside refuse/recycling collection by the city.
Lauren Trettor, Assistant Municipal Administrator for the city, said the input of citizens through the city council members indicated that the desire for this service to be reopened was very high.
“We had a choice to either keep the yard waste drop off open to residents, or closed, during the time period in which we are exploring and discussing the options we have in this drop-off service,” Trettor said. “We need to look over budget balancing strategies if we are going to make this work. “
Trettor said a significant amount of time is being put into deciding what is best for the city and the residents.
“Back in November, the proposed 0.08 percent tax increase was going to fund these services and provided the city with approximately $72,000,” she said. “But since it did not pass, it eliminated two of three heavy item pickups, and one of two brush pickups annually.”
The city’s Web site states the city has had ongoing challenges with the year’s budget and hopes to minimize the cost of this service.
“The Public Waste Department is decreasing in size, not through layoffs but through attrition,” said Trettor. “Because of the decreasing number of workers, minimizing the cost of this service is an ongoing challenge, especially since the municipal budget is always a changing process.”
The city’s next curbside collection of yard waste will occur in October. However, residents may take brush to the Wood County Landfill and drop it off there for a fee. According to the Wood County Solid Waste Management Web site, they will collect brush up to 24 inches in diameter and the charge is $20 per ton of waste with a $5 minimum fee.
“It is important for the residents of the city to cooperate and are careful not to put their yard waste in with their garbage,” she said. “Once the trash gets to the landfill, the trash and brush has to be sorted out. This takes more time and sometimes more man power, which ultimately costs the city more money.”
