Commissioners approve recycling, wind-farm support

Written by Jerry Engler Tuesday, 28 October 2008 14:34

Marion County took big strides toward becoming “more green” Monday at the Marion County Commission meeting with decisions to begin recycling and to ensure construction of wind turbine farms for generating electricity can proceed.

“I’m excited, and optimistic that we are doing something,” Transfer Station Director Rollin Schmidt said when the commissioners told him to proceed on contracting with Sunoco paper mill at Hutchinson for cardboard and paper taken from the county waste stream.

Schmidt confirmed for the commissioners that Sunoco is still willing to provide a cardboard baler and pickup from Marion for only a token lease rate of $1 a year. He said the company also has advised a willingness to help dispose of other...

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Goessel council reviews rates for trash, recycling

Written by Cynthia Goerzen Tuesday, 28 October 2008 14:33

Hank Yoder of Stutzman Refuse attended the Oct. 20 Goessel City Council meeting to discuss trash rates and recycling.

The trash rate for regular trash will increase by 50 cents a cart. Goessel does not have mandatory recycling, but the council discussed that possibility with Yoder. A fee of $2.75 a month would be charged for picking up recyclables.

“If they do recycling, it doesn’t decrease their trash fee,” Mayor Peggy Jay said.

Yoder said, “No. (Recycling has) never been a money-maker. The markets have dropped in the last two months.”

But Yoder added that recycling is “the right thing to do” and “it takes a lot of education.”

Councilor Jim Wiens asked if recycling could be added at a later date. Yoder said...

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Direction is top issue for District 2 commission candidates

Written by Jerry Engler Tuesday, 21 October 2008 15:48

DanHolubDCP_5033.jpg L-R: Incumbent Dan Holub, Challenger Jim Herzet


Incumbent Republican Commissioner Dan Holub from Marion County’s Second District will face a Democrat challenger, Jim Herzet, in the Nov. 4 general election.

A question to voters on the same ballot—whether to approve a bond based on sales tax for the construction of a new jail and communications center—appears to be a pivotal issue for the two candidates.

However, both said it is an issue that needed to be brought before the voters.

Herzet is a former public works director for the county who resigned the position. He said that isn’t so much an issue as his concern with the sort of judgment being exercised on the county commission.

He said the jail is an...

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County may bale cardboard as a beginning step toward recycling

Written by Jerry Engler Tuesday, 21 October 2008 15:43

The Marion County Commis­sion Monday directed Transfer Station Director Rollin Schmidt to see if an offer from Sunoco paper mill at Hutchinson to supply a cardboard baling machine for a $1 a year lease would still be available.

If the county gets the machine, the commissioners said it would be a first step in recycling to reduce the expense of disposing of waste.

Schmidt’s latest figures show the county has hauled 5,282.51 tons of municipal solid waste from the transfer to the landfill at Perry with the per-ton costs on the last billing cycle at $42.25.

Schmidt said the cost would likely go down on the next billing cycle because fuel costs have gone down, but the overall trend is still toward disposal becoming more expensive.

The...

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