The Flathead County Solid Waste Board voted to delay the closure of the Bigfork green box dumpsite for at least six months, while the community comes up with an alternative plan. The decision came at a Jan. 22 board meeting that was attended by more than two-dozen people from Bigfork.
Late last year, Flathead County was moving forward with plans to close the Bigfork and Lakeside garbage sites, arguing that they are too small and unsafe, according to Public Works Director David Prunty. The plan drew criticism from local residents, including Paul Mutascio of the Community Foundation for a Better Bigfork.
“What you are talking about is a drastic decrease in services this county offers,” Mutascio said at the meeting. “Those types of decisions should be up to the entire county commission, not an appointed board.”
If the county were to move forward with the plan to close the two green box sites, residents of Bigfork and Lakeside would have to drive to Somers or Creston to dispose of their garbage. From those sites, garbage trucks take the trash to the county landfill north of Kalispell on U.S. Highway 93. Mutascio said making people drive further was a “hidden tax.”
But the county and the solid waste board have maintained that the sites must be closed or consolidated, in accordance to a long-term garbage plan drawn up three years ago.
“The Bigfork site has gone from 3,000 to 6,000 users a year … And that explains why it must be replaced,” said Hank Olson, chairman of the solid waste board.
Mutascio said the county’s garbage plan is “flawed” and only looks at its costs, not the effects closing green box sites would have on the community and the environment.
Because of the issues raised, Olson decided to table the plan to close the Bigfork green box site for at least six months and create a four-person work group to find an alternative. Now a group of Bigfork residents will work with the solid waste board and try to come up with a proposal by summer.
Although local residents were pleased with the outcome, most wished they could have more time.
“You offered all of us what we want: time to come up with a plan, but six months is especially limiting,” said resident Jean Hagan, who said 18 to 24 months would be ideal.
Prunty said he believed it could take more than six months to come up with a new plan for garbage in Bigfork. He said it was likely that when the time comes, the solid waste board will extend the workgroup’s deadline. Although Prunty said he still believes the current Bigfork site is too small, he said the department is willing to listen to every proposal put forth. He said a meeting between the board and the work group would be scheduled soon.
Mutascio was encouraged by the decisions, but said there are still many issues that need to be addressed with the county’s long-term green box plans, not just in Bigfork.
“I’m hopeful they have open minds and look at this issue through today’s realities,” he said. “It’s a county wide issue.”