ABOVE: The Yard Waste Recycling Site was discussed by the Fairmont City Council on Monday as it debated grinding or burning the debris. Sentinel file photo.

FAIRMONT– The Yard Waste Recycling Site was once again a topic of contentious conversation among the Fairmont City Council at its meeting on Monday.

It started when the council approved removing the topic from the consent agenda, which was to consider a purchase order for Shamrock Recycling Inc. for yard waste grinding at the tree site in the amount of $90,000.

Both Council Members Randy Lubenow and Britney Kawecki said they believed that burning would be a more efficient and cheaper way to go, as opposed to grinding.

“Council didn’t make a motion, as far as I know, to do it every other year (burning). I still like to burn the tree dump every year. We should be able to do it with our equipment,” Lubenow said.

He added that if staff training is an issue, the Fairmont Fire Chief could be contacted to help with training.

“I’m baffled as well as to why we’re not burning,” Kawecki said. “I agree with you, I was sad to see we didn’t burn this winter as well.”

Public Works Director Matthew York said that they did not burn this past year because it’s not always advantageous to burn and noted that there weren’t as many large logs recently compared to previous years.

“BLAC Construction cost us about $72,000 to burn last winter. Going from burning to grinding, there are multiple benefits to grinding over burning, one is that the mulch is reused,” York said.

He also pointed out that burning comes with extra steps and people.

“It’s not like me in my backyard with my twigs and a campfire. That’s not how a massive burn like that happens,” York said. “I thought it was the best use of the city funds and resources to move to an every other year process.”

York said that another issue is excess compost at the site. He said that the city purchased a compost screener so that it can screen the compost and have it available to residents.

Mayor Lee Baarts asked if other towns of Fairmont’s size have tree dumps for residents to use. York said he believes that it’s common for resident use, but pointed out that it’s known that people outside of Fairmont are using the site, too.

“Even though it’s posted that only people from the city of Fairmont can utilize it. We know that that’s an issue as well,” York said.

Baarts asked if anyone has ever considered shutting the tree dump site down to the residents.

“Everyone is talking about businesses closing, people moving out and taxes being high. We charge for it. Has anyone thought about closing it down and not having it open to the public? There’s a lot of commercial trees that go there… can you imagine the money saved without a tree dump?” Baarts asked.

He pointed out that money would be saved on equipment at the tree dump, too. Lubenow said he hopes he never hears that idea brought up again.

“People use that tree dump probably more than they use 28 of our 31 parks,” Lubenow said.

He said in the past he’s suggested increasing the cost that commercial haulers have to pay to use it. A permit currently costs $1,500 for the year.

Kawecki added that she has also suggested other ideas to combat the problem of non-permitted people using the tree dump.

“You can do a log… it’s easy to do cameras, trail cams. There’s other options that we can do. Other cities have other options. There needs to be a solution and it needs to be a priority because it is a service that the citizens pay for and a service that the citizens of Fairmont appreciate,” Kawecki said.

York said that staff had brought up many of these ideas a year ago but they were turned down by council.

“We talked about options and Jeff (O’Neill) said we’d talk about it in a workshop,” Kawecki said, referencing the former interim city administrator.

York pointed out that the city has a lot going on currently and is without a city administrator. He said staff needs direction from the city council on what it wants to see done.

“I believe that having the grinder out there to produce something that’s not just smoke and ash…is a benefit for not only the citizens of Fairmont but the environment as a whole,” York said.

A motion was made by Council Member Jay Maynard to approve the purchase order for Shamrock Recycling Inc. for yard waste grinding at the tree site in the amount of $90,000. In a roll call vote, the motion passed 4-1 with Lubenow opposed.

The Yard Waste Recycling Site in Fairmont, located at 1880 100th Street, is set to open next month.