By Roger McKinney
rmckinney@joplinglobe.com
COLUMBUS, Kan. — Landfill officials on Monday told the Cherokee County commissioners that the landfill that serves the county may close within a year and possibly by year’s end.
The information surprised and dismayed the commissioners, who said they understood the landfill to have five to 10 years of use remaining. They said the landfill’s closure likely would result in higher rates for residents.
Known by local residents as the Wheatland Landfill, it is located north of Columbus along Kansas Highway 7.
“How long have you known this?” Commission Chairman Pat Collins asked Pete Forst, general manager for Allied Waste Services, when he told the commissioners of the landfill closure.
“It’s been talked about for two or three years,” Forst said.
“Not to us,” Collins said.
Forst said nothing had been decided.
Darren Baker, a sales representative for the landfill, had approached the commission about the possibility of the Environmental Protection Agency storing contaminated mine waste from the Tar Creek Superfund Site at the landfill.
Bryant Burnett, with the EPA office in Galena, said later that the EPA is storing the waste in the abandoned mines, before capping them with clay and topsoil and planting native grasses. There is no provision that would allow it to place the waste in a landfill, he said.
Forst said not enough trash has been coming to the landfill, before revealing that much of the county’s trash and trash from outside the county is being diverted to a transfer station at Galena. From there, it is taken to a landfill near Lamar, Mo. He said the reason for that was that trash trucks from Oklahoma were being ticketed when they crossed the state line into Kansas because they were overweight. He said taking the trash to Galena through Missouri circumvents Kansas authorities.
Forst said the landfill is too expensive to continue to operate. He said there is limited space available at the top of the landfill, and the landfill wanted the EPA waste to fill it.
“It’s not a real viable option for us,” Forst said of keeping it open.
“You’re looking for an opportunity for you, and you don’t care what happens to Cherokee County, is what you just said,” Commissioner Richard Hilderbrand said, clearly irritated.
Forst said Hilderbrand mischaracterized his statement.
Baker said all the trash would be taken to the Galena transfer station when the landfill closes.
“We’ll always have a place to take the garbage,” Baker said.
“It’s just going to cost us more, right?” said Carl Hayes, with the Cherokee County Health Department.
Hayes said he had done a review of the county’s contract with the landfill. He said the landfill had not supplied what is known as a “useful life report” that is required to be submitted routinely, but not less frequently than annually.
“Nobody’s asked for it in the last five years,” Forst said.
“We shouldn’t have to,” Hayes said. “It’s in the contract. I mean, we’re kind of in a bind here.”
Also upset by the news was Columbus City Superintendent Jim Burton, who was at the meeting.
“Closing the landfill would affect us a hell of a lot,” Burton said. “We take our trash there.”
He said the city budget is being prepared, and that it is important to know as soon as possible if the landfill is scheduled for closure.
Baker said better communication may have lessened the tension.
“We’re in business to do business,” Baker said.
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