Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The subject of a pile of debris at the Garfield compost site has come up as an issue in the first weeks of new mayor Ray McCown’s term.
The town hasn’t had a burn permit in a year and half after a smoldering pile drew a complaint which led to a Notice of Correction from the Washington State Department of Ecology.
The notice was due to the burning which had been done without a permit, leading to large smoldering logs which dispersed smoke for “days vs. hours,” according to Paul Rossow, Air Quality Specialist with the DOE.
Since then, previous Mayor Jarrod Pfaff and the Garfield City Council decided on a plan to haul compost collections in transport boxes to the Whitman County waste disposal site.
However, in early January, McCown called the Washington State Department of Ecology to get a burn permit, which was issued, good for six months.
He estimates there is about 75 boxes worth of compost to be disposed of at an average cost of $100 a box.
The city council discussed the matter at its last meeting and decided to go ahead with McCown’s notion to burn the pile this one time. From there, members of the council said they want to go back to the transport boxes.
“We’re saying just for that pile, on required burn days with all our I’s dotted and T’s crossed; just to help the initial cleanup,” said city Councilman Tim Southern. “Then we want to go back to the bins.”
Citing easier maintenance and no potential for air quality complaints, Southern said the bins will be effective.
“It’s a pretty minimal cost to us,” he said. “Not at all what the mayor’s in fear of.”
The cost of burning is another concern.
“The burning takes a lot of manpower and a lot of time,” said Southern, noting that it has to be tended, which takes a public works employee away from other projects.
Southern estimated that using the transport bins would cost less than $1,000 a year.
“We had it budgeted and had it figured,” he said, referring to the budget passed before the end of Pfaff’s term in December.
“Whether you have a permit or not, if you start smoking out your neighbors, it’s illegal,” said Kary Peterson, Unit Manager for Outdoor Burn and Monitoring for Eastern Region, DOE.
Overall, Mayor McCown doesn’t expect the matter to be resolved until the late spring. He also mentioned that there is another option he is working on but did not want to elaborate.
“There’s not going to be many burn days between now and March,” he said. “We’re just trying to get out from under this pile of trash.”
He expects the issue may be on the agenda at the next council meeting, Feb. 12.
“I suppose it will be but I can’t tell you right now,” McCown said. “I assume it will be.”
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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