Commissioners getting mixed public feedback; county to post survey

The Mower County board is giving the public more time and another way to provide feedback as it mulls whether to switch to single-sort recycling or keep the sorted recycling program it’s had since 1988.

After initially planning to vote next week, the board will now vote on the recycling issue at its Aug. 25 meeting after board members received much public feedback.

“It seems to be a pretty hot topic,” 5th District Commissioner Mike Ankeny, the board chairman, said.

At some point this week, the county will also post a surveymonkey.com survey as another way to gauge public feedback on recycling.

The issue

Currently, all county properties pay $16 to $18 a year for a recycling program where recyclables must be separated into bins for plastics, paper, and glass and cans, but the board is debating switching to single-sort, where all recyclables go into one bin, as a way to keep more items out of landfills.

Though most neighboring counties have adopted single-sort programs and most indications show single-sort would boost recycling volumes by 30 percent or more, the change would spike costs to as much as $55.36 a year for residential properties.

If approved, the county would contract recycling with Waste Management — the low and only qualifying bidder — to pick up recycling for homes and duplexes. Businesses, churches, government buildings or large apartment complexes would need to contract with Waste Management.

The board could approve countywide curbside pickup for $55.36, or it could opt for pickup only in incorporated cities with eight to 10 rural drop boxes, in which case rural residences would likely pay a reduced fee compared to city residents. Since using rural drop boxes would reduce the single-sort costs, the board could apply more savings to rural residences’ bills since they’d receive a reduced service. For example, city residences could potentially pay $48.39 a year for city residential pickup and rural would pay $24.18 to use drop boxes.

Mixed results

Since learning of the potential costs last Tuesday, commissioners have received a flood of public feedback — much of it mixed — but 3rd District Commissioner Jerry Reinartz said he’s heard from avid people on both sides of the fence.

According to 2nd District Commissioner Polly Glynn, that feedback had swayed a bit toward opposing single-sort until she and other board members received a change.org petition signed by more than 150 people to support single-sort, which Glynn said has evened the feedback.

Glynn said most people who have opposed single-sort have done so due to the cost increases and the loss of the Cedar Valley Services jobs.

The county will post its surveymokey.com survey on its website, co.mower.mn.us, sometime this week and paper copies will be available in County Coordinator Craig Oscarson’s office on the south side of the Mower County Government Center, 201 First St. NE.

The survey results won’t be the deciding factor for the issue and won’t serve necessarily as a public vote.

“It’s just one extra piece of data for the board,” Oscarson said.

However, 1st District Commissioner Tim Gabrielson said he’s putting the most emphasis on the conversations he’s had with constituents around town. Over the weekend, Gabrielson said he received 19 calls against single-sort and only three in favor of it.

Higher volumes, higher costs

For the most part, board members have expressed confidence that switching to single-sort would keep more items out of landfills, and they’ve noted Freeborn County increased recycling by about 75 percent in its first year.

“It’s a green issue, and we should be looking at it,” Reinartz said.

But the issue is not just about recycling and conservation. Currently, the country contracts with Cedar Valley Services to help pickup and work with the recycling program. A switch to single-sort would end the contract and thus end 14-17 Cedar Valley jobs for Mower County residents with disabilities — many of whom have working in the program since 1988 — and it would also affect three to four Cedar Valley workers.

If single-sort is approved, the Cedar Valley contract would end March 31, 2016, for single-sort to commence April 1, 2016.

The Aug. 25 board meeting will be held in the county board room in the basement of the Mower County Government Center with the meeting likely to start around 8:30 a.m., and Oscarson estimated the recycling vote will likely be around 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m., though the final time won’t be set until the meeting agenda is released Aug. 21.

Mower County Board of Commissioners contacts

—Tim Gabrielson, 1st District: 507-433-2598, tim.gabrielson@co.mower.mn.us

—Polly Glynn, 2nd District, vice-chair: 507-269-4498, pglynn@hmtel.com

—Jerry Reinartz, 3rd District: 507-219-2205, jerry.reinartz@hotmail.com

—Tony Bennett, 4th District: 507-440-1203, tony@old218.com

—Mike Ankeny, 5th District, chair: 507-433-4157, mlankeny@ankenysminimart.com