Towns to pay more for county chipper

The fate of the county chipper is now in the hands of the people. As of Jan. 1, the grant from the Department of Ecology to fund the chipper program ended.

This will leave cities to pay a daily fee if they want to use it.

The part-time employee paid to operate the chipper has been laid off and the chipper is now being operated by crews at the Whitman County Landfill site, where it is stored.

County public works director Mark Storey said any long-term use of the machine now is dependent on how long cities are willing to pay for it.

“I don’t know if it will be forever or not - depending on how willing the cities are to chip and use that in their own composting programs,” Storey said.

At least seven towns around the county have agreed to pay a fee estimated to be $300 to $350 a day if they decide to rent the machine.

When the chipper operation was backed by a DOE grant, the county chipper and operator were provided without cost to local towns. They were required to simply pay fuel expenses and provide a worker to assist the chipper operator.

Most of the chipper fee will go toward reimbursing the Whitman Landfill employee operating the machine that day. The daily fee will rise or fall depending on who operates the machine.

David Nails, operating manager at the landfill, said landfill operators haven’t been in demand yet because most people do not chip wood in the dead of winter. When springtime arrives, he expects to see more of a strain on employee hours.

“It is kind of a stretch for us to put it in out there,” Nails said.

He pointed out residents around the county can now drop off organic waste at the landfill free.

St. John has been renting the chipper every other week to keep up with the city waste, said city clerk-treasurer Linda Hayes.

The department of ecology denied the city a burn permit this year, leaving them with little option other than the chipper for disposal.

Hayes said St. John will most likely keep using the chipper because the waste has to go somewhere.

“We’re kind of forced into it,” Hayes said.

Garfield is still deciding whether or not to buy a used chipper or continue using the county’s. It is more expensive to haul waste from Garfield down to the landfill on Highway 195 than to rent the chipper, said Garfield Public Works director David Ulrick.

Palouse used the chipper 12 times last year, according to Dwayne Griffin, Palouse public works supervisor.

“We’re going to need the chipper one way or another. I just don’t know what else we would do,” Griffin said.

He said Palouse has not yet made a public decision to pay to rent the chipper. They will discuss it at their next council meeting, Tuesday, Jan. 12.