April 10, 2023 |
Photo – Rawlins Landfill Construction Pit – Bigfoot99 file photo
The “free landfill days” in Rawlins will change this year. Residents will receive only one voucher for one free trip to the landfill. The city council discussed the impact on staff and the budget and whether more days were needed.
Last year, city residents received two coupons to dump construction and demolition waste at the landfill, free of charge. The idea was to encourage people to dispose of debris and beatify the town.
Originally a week-long event, the city moved to a voucher system last year. This allows residents more time and alleviates strain on the landfill staff. Two vouchers were issued to each household, one for spring and one for fall. This year, the city intends to mail out a single coupon to be redeemed anytime between May and September.
At Tuesday’s city council meeting, Councilman Chris Weisenburg presented a resolution for the single use landfill voucher.
Mayor Terry Weickum asked what day the program begins on. He said the resolution simply says May. Public Relations Officer Mira Miller said she doesn’t know when people actually will receive the postcards. Landfill Superintendent Patrick Martinez said last year people were upset if they received the voucher after the official start date. As a result, a generalized timeframe was introduced this year.
Miller said the plan is to begin mailing the vouchers out at the beginning of May. Vice Mayor Steve Sanger asked why wait when the vouchers could be sent earlier? Miller said she would speak to the printer and attempt to have the coupons ready to mail sooner. Councilman Weisenburg suggested an improvement to the resolution, to specify when the program begins.
A friendly amendment is a change to a motion that the councilmember believes everyone would agree on. Weisenberg overestimated the degree of friendliness on the current council.
Councilwoman Tonya Lewman took a contrary view and said sending the vouchers early may create confusion about when the program begins. Landfill Superintendent Martinez said the reason they chose to start sending the coupons in early May was to prevent that very thing from happening.
Councilman Weisenburg said it would be up to the landfill staff to decide if they accept the vouchers before May 1st. He said he wanted the coupons to have a specific date on them. Mayor Weickum said he felt having a set day may upset people who receive their voucher after the program begins.
Councilman Bruce Seilaff asked if the program’s timeframe was reduced from last year. Martinez said having one voucher for a longer time period saved the city money.
Councilman Seilaff said lowering the number of free loads could make people unhappy.
Mayor Weickum said the entire idea of a free landfill day may be defeating the purpose of the program. He said vouchers incentivize people to collect more garbage and hold onto it until the next free dump day.
Mayor Weickum said he doesn’t think the program is contributing to the city in the way it was intended. He admitted that having a physical coupon was better than the old way of setting aside a specific week without fees. The voucher allows people to naturally space out the times they arrive at the dump, lowering the impact on city workers. He said the vouchers also help prevent out-of-towners from taking advantage of the program.
Councilman Seilaff expressed disappointment that the city was reducing the number of free days down to one. Councilman Weisenburg asked the landfill superintendent how much the program cost the city. Martinez said cutting back the number of days reduced the cost by thousands of dollars.
The money for the free landfill days originally came from the city’s dangerous building fund. Miller said last year, the council voted to have the money taken from the landfill enterprise fund instead. Councilman Weisenburg asked how much money was taken from the landfill fund to pay for the program. Miller said the only out-of-pocket cost is to mail the vouchers. Weisenburg said employee-time should be factored into the price.
Mayor Weickum explained why the council voted to move funding for the free landfill days away from the dangerous building fund. Weickum said making abandoned structures safe was more important than paying for a program he doesn’t support; allowing people free access to the city dump.
Councilwoman Lewman asked how the program was run in the past. Was there always a voucher for two free days? Martinez said before the voucher system was introduced last year, residents had a single week to bring as much waste as they could. He called it, “Hell Week.”
Councilman Seilaff said he would prefer the voucher to allow two free loads at different times. Martinez said he could send one postcard with two coupons to cut back on postage fees, but he needed to collect a voucher for every load to ensure proper record keeping. To avoid confusion, Mayor Weickum asked the council to vote on the resolution as it was originally written. The motion passed, but Councilman Weisenburg’s friendly amendment to create a set beginning on May 1st was rejected.
Rawlins residents will begin receiving their landfill voucher in early May. The coupon will be good for a single load of construction debris between the months of May and September.
