County eyes rental rate for towns using chipper

With state grant funds expiring, Whitman County towns will have to pay to keep the county’s roving chipper program running.

The Department of Ecology grant behind the chipper will run out in December, say county officials, and it appears unlikely the DOE will grant them a six-month extension.

The county is now sending out a brief survey to towns asking if they would be willing to pay a fee to continue the program.

“It’s up to the cities if this continues,” said Judi Dunn-Gray, county waste reduction coordinator, presenting at a county workshop session to the county commissioners.

The chipper, which is largely being used to chip up yard waste like trees, tree branches, and bushes, could be rented out to towns at $250 to $300 a day.

This would pay for equipment, fuel, and the labor to run the machine for eight hours a day.

The air quality department of the DOE gave the county a $130,000 grant starting in Dec. 2007.

Through the grant, the county now officially owns the chipper, said Mark Storey, county public works director.

County officials had initially wondered if the DOE would be willing to extend their funding for another six months.

This is looking like less of an option now.

“That’s like a snowflake in July,” said Storey.

The county hopes to hear back from towns by October.

The original goal behind the grant to the county was to help the area make the transition from burning yard waste and garden waste to chipping and to encourage towns to compost waste instead of burning it.

Today when a town uses the chipper, one county maintenance official arrives with it and the city is expected to have one of their own city maintenance men help too.

Together, sometimes with one or two more extra people, the crew breaks down any yard waste the city has gathered at their dumpsite at the time. Things like lumber or barbed wire obviously won’t go through the chipper; crews mainly process tree limbs and bushes.