Plains refuse site gets $200k makeover
The Plains refuse site recently saw a number of upgrades. (Tracy Scott/Valley Press)
After years of neglect and complaints from residents, the Plains refuse site recently had a major upgrade.
Improvements include an additional dumpster open for household trash during dump hours. Gates in front of dumpsters have been eliminated making it easier to access the dumpsters. All roads leading to and from the dumpsters have been paved.
A 10x12 refuse attendant office has been ordered and was scheduled to be installed this month.
Sanders County Commissioner Dan Rowan was the driving force in getting the Plains Refuse site rebuilt after receiving complaints about safety concerns and its condition.
“The county has been wanting to have improvements out there. For whatever reason, (because of) budgets, they couldn’t get it done,” Rowan said.
The county at first looked at only making a few improvements to the site, but the project blossomed into a full-scale makeover after reviewing all that needed to be done.
It was the winter of 23-24 that moved the project forward. Last year’s winter saw a number of freezing temperatures and warming thaws, turning the refuse road into a mud pit during the thaw and a dust bowl during the freeze. The winter was hard on all county roads. Rowan said that the County Road Foreman District 3, Lee Smith, said he hadn’t seen a year that bad in the last 30 years.
The refuse rebuild project required 700 tons of asphalt costing $65,000, which was supplied by Bonn Construction, and truckloads of concrete, costing $13,000, which was supplied by Blackjack Construction. Several types of gravel were used, with some of it coming from a county site. Sanders County used their own gravel trucks to keep costs down.
Rowan said that the cost of asphalt has doubled over the last four years. The overall cost of the project is estimated to be around $200,000.
“We have had several positive comments on the improvements,” he said about the complete project.
Refuse attendant Tim Johnson, a Plains resident, said, “What a difference, It’s like night and day difference here.”
The refuse site is located at 122 Od Hicks Road in Plains and is open Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.