Allen County Commissioners were given a heads up Tuesday morning on an upcoming recycling proposal. Steve Strickler, a longtime recycling volunteer, spoke with the commission on what he envisions as a joint effort between the city of Iola and Allen County.
“I’m back to rewriting a recycling proposal,” said Strickler. “You guys have been very supportive. Hopefully we can get one employee from the county and one employee from the city of Iola.”
Strickler noted that he is leaning more towards what he refers to as the Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) method of recycling in his proposal. “I think it would be less labor for everybody concerned,” he said. “Hopefully I’ll have that proposal ready within the next week.”
He explained that PAYT means a person’s payment for trash collection is based on the amount of trash that they discard.
“Studies have shown that it incentivizes recycling,” he said. “If I have to pay for all this trash, I’m going to recycle as much of it as I can.” He noted that there are various ways to implement such a program, whether it is putting stickers on trash bags or having a punch card system. “It has worked very well for the cities that have tried it,” he added. “This is what I’m thinking about for the city of Iola.”
Strickler would like to see the county’s involvement by placing recycling totes in each one of the cities in the county. “They’d just pick these totes up when they’re full and leave empties,” he explained. “We’re also going to propose to keep the recycling center open so that people can bring stuff in anytime on a voluntary basis.” He noted that, by doing this, nothing is mandated. “People don’t like being told what to do. If you want to throw all your trash in the dumpster, you can do that… but you’re going to have to pay for it.”
Commissioner Jerry Daniels expressed his support for discussion on the topic. “I keep reading where it says that the city and county don’t want to do anything and I don’t know where that keeps coming from,” he said. “We’ve offered to start somewhere — start small. I don’t want to overthink it to where it’s too cumbersome. We’re open to discussion, sure.”
“I think that the city and county can work together, whether we need a referee or supervisor,” Strickler said in closing. “I think it’s something very workable and I’m excited about it.”
IN OTHER NEWS, Public Works Director Mitch Garner informed commissioners that trash is being placed in the new cell at the landfill. “We can only put certain kinds of trash in there right now for the first layer,” he explained. “It’s got to get about five feet deep, lightly packed, and then we can start putting dirt and gravel and get more people in there.” Garner noted that it’s just a few trash trucks utilizing the new cell for the time being.
Commissioners approved a bid from Caldwell Floor Covering in the amount of $7,226 for new carpeting in the Humboldt Senior Center. The cost covers carpet tile, glue, and labor.
A representative from Hampel Oil of Iola gave a presentation to commissioners on bulk fuel purchases and fuel tracking for county vehicles. The fuel management system would allow the county to track each department’s fuel usage independently. Commissioners agreed to revisit the matter at their June 10 meeting.
Commissioners approved a training request from Emergency Management Jason Trego. “It is in Oklahoma in October and is for Communications Unit Leader, also known as COML,” said Trego. “The training is free, but I’ll need approval to travel out of state.”
