(Spencer)– The city of Spencer is making preparations at its landfill near Graettinger as tons of debris from the flood head that way. Public Works Director Mark White says thankfully they just completed work on an additional cell at the landfill…
“We’ve had to have additional help there, additional equipment. Clay county had provided a dozer and an operator to try to keep up with the material. We’ve opened the new cell. Thank goodness we had the new cell setting there. We’ll recommend probably soon that we start design on the next cell to try to keep ahead of that. I can’t estimate quite the impact at this time but that will be a recommendation that will be bumped up through the CIP process so we don’t get caught.”
Meanwhile, the herculean task of debris removal from in front of people’s homes continues. White says more than 70 trucks and 77 employees with the Iowa Department of Transportation from throughout the state are conducting the operation. White says the debris is being taken to one of the large parking lots near the Clay County Fairgrounds…
“The next phase will be a contractor that has been procured through the state as well, not through the city, they start to function and they also hire local contractors to accomplish that, and then they shred the material and that reduces the volume about percent, then the denser loads going to the landfill, they handle that as well. The other thing I wanted to mention is that household hazardous waste, no they haven’t forgotten that. That’s part of the next phases. So the paint cans, the stains, the bug spray type stuff that’s at your curb, that’s still part of this process. If it doesn’t get completed, you have to make a request for each pass, basically, and that’s the function we’re in.”
White says the first shredder/grinder is expected to arrive in Spencer Friday.
