FAIRMONT — The Fairmont City Council on Monday discussed the tree dump site, located west of town. Council member Wayne Hasek had asked that the topic be added to the agenda as he believed it needed to be addressed.

“For those that haven’t been out there, it is quite full. Now with leaf pick-up coming, it will add to the compost site,” said Troy Nemmers, acting city administrator.

Hasek said he believes there has been some misuse at the tree dump site with people from other communities who are not paying taxes in Fairmont bringing in their debris.

Nemmers said there’s a contract in place with a tree grinding company that’s currently working on grinding but with the weather and high winds the area has been experiencing, the pile has gotten very large.

“It just doesn’t seem like the chipping is keeping up,” Hasek explained.

Council member Tom Hawkins said he hadn’t thought about people outside of the city using it. He questions whether they could get a locked gate or monitor who is using the tree dump site.

“In the past we had closed the gates and people would just dump in the driveway. We can certainly do some exploring to find more options and look at what other cities are doing to regulate it,” Nemmers said.

The council said it would be hard to police non-residents using it unless you pay someone to sit at the gate and check identification to confirm that people using it actually live in Fairmont.

As for expenses at the site, Nemmers said there is not many out there except for the company that does the tree grinding. Nemmers said one of the contracts they had was around $50,000 but the current one is slightly lower than that.

The council discussed burning some of the debris. Nemmers said the city maintains a burning permit with the DNR and while it’s not the preferred method, it is an option.

In the end the council decided to look into having a second shredding company come in to chip some of the excess debris. They will also look at burning it come closer to winter.

Turning to other matters, Nemmers shared with the council that Southern Plains Education Cooperative is looking to have a School Resource Officer for 20 hours a week. The SRO would work to keep the students and staff safe, as well as form connections with students and serve as a resource for them.

Police Chief Mike Hunter has been working with county attorney Terry Viesselman and Southern Plains on a memorandum of understanding which is similar to the agreement with Fairmont Area Schools. Hunter said they’re currently in the hiring process of hiring a part-time officer to act as SRO at the school.

The board approved of the request.

In other news, the council approved a permit request to hold the annual Glows Parade in downtown Fairmont on Nov. 22.