April 27, 2023
Photo – Cram-a-Lot Horizontal Baler – Courtesy cram-a-lot.com
The Rawlins landfill will receive a new garbage baler despite the mayor’s objection.
During last week’s Rawlins city council meeting, Community Development Director Luis Lascano asked the council to approve an appropriation of $146,473 for the purchase of a new garbage baling machine. The Cram-A-Lot Wide Mouth Horizontal Baler will allow landfill employees to compress large amounts of waste into small, easier to transport, cubes. Councilman Chris Weisenburg said not enough money was set aside to buy the machine. The councilman asked where the remaining funds would come from.
The money will come out of funding provided by the Power Company of Wyoming for the construction of the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project. Interim City Manager Tom Sarvey told Councilman Weisenburg that only about half of the Chokecherry Impact Assistance Fund has been used. Sarvey said the city could add more impact assistance money to cover the increased cost.
Sarvey said the budget has been approved already and it would be a simple matter to allocate additional money needed for the purchase.
The city council has already approved $136,000 for the new baler. Councilman Weisenburg said he was unaware of such an expensive piece of equipment being approved. He said he thought the council had only authorized buying a smaller machine.
Community Development Director Lascano said $20,000 was a yearly budget item to replace and repair the smaller garbage baler at the landfill. Lascano said the baler needs constant fixing and he’s had to scavenge parts from other sites.
Lascano said the landfill receives garbage from across the city. He said the smaller baler requires crews to break down large piles of refuse and hand feed the trash into the machine. The new baler will save labor time.
The city recently approved the construction of an $80,000 building at the dump to house the new baler. Mayor Terry Weickum said he voted for the new building because he was under the impression that the city would recoup some of the cost by selling bales of recyclable items. Lascano said he can’t guarantee the price of recycling. The community development director said prices are way down on things like cardboard.
Mayor Weickum said the landfill would need to store enough bales to fill several semi-trucks at once to turn a profit. The mayor said he thought the new building would only be used to store garbage waiting for transport.
Mayor Weickum said he didn’t recall seeing plans to house the baling machine in the new building. Lascano said the project was approved two years ago. He said the 60-by 85-foot structure had enough space for both, the baler and the garbage.
Lascano said the building is tall enough to stack three bales of cardboard on top of each other.
The city received three bids for the purchase of the baler. Councilwoman Jacquelin Wells motioned to approve the purchase of the baling machine from the lowest bidder, Pro-Baler Services out of Salt Lake City, Utah.
The motion passed with six for and one against. Mayor Weickum was the lone negative vote.
