News
Changes coming in the city of Bottineau
Scott Wagar
11/12/2013
In the Nov. 4 City Council meeting the aldermen voted to acquire a new garbage truck which will change the way local residents remove garbage from their property.
“We are going to a new style truck that is a one man operation and it is all hydraulic driven,” said Keith Fulsebakke, Bottineau’s city superintendent. “It has an arm that goes out and grabs the can and dumps it.”
When the new garbage truck is purchased, the city will also have to purchase a specific type of garbage can, because the hydraulic lift on the truck can only pick up a certain type of can.
“The city will purchase the cans and each property owner will receive a can free of charge,” Fulsebakke said. “We are going to have two size cans, a 48 gallon and 96 gallon, and we are trying to figure out now by how much garbage residents usually throw away in what size can we will give them. The 96 is going to be a little too big for some people to roll out. They roll easy but they are going to get a little heavy, and some people wouldn’t fill a 96 in a month,” Fulsebakke added.
“If we give you a 48 and that is not enough, you can trade to a 96 and the city isn’t going to charge for that,” Fulsebakke said. “If they need more than a 96 the property owner is going to have to pay for an additional can.”
Depending on the size of the garbage can, residents who request more than one can will be charged anywhere from $60 to $80.
The city council made the decision to change over to this type of truck and can service because it will save the city money and take less time to pick-up the city’s garbage.
“We are hoping to do the residential in three days with the new truck,” Fulsebakke said.
The truck will be purchased at the end of this year, but it will take nine months for the truck to be delivered to the city.
However, the cans will be delivered to the property owners before the truck gets here and the present garbage truck will be utilized with an additional man on the back of the truck until local residents learn how to place their cans properly on the street.
“We want the residents to place their can in a certain place so the lift can get to the can,” Fulsebakke said. “One trouble we might have is vehicles parking on the streets near the can, which is why we are going to have an extra guy at first because you cannot be parked in front of this can. It can reach in front of a vehicle and grab it if it has to. Like the city of Fargo, on garbage days, there is no parking on the street, which we don’t have in Bottineau so we will have to work around that,” he added.
“When we first bring them the can we are going to set it where we would like them to put it. Usually, most of them are on the end of the driveway, and it is better off in the summertime if it is in the street because this truck is made to go straight out and grab it.”
One thing the city doesn’t want is for property owners to set the can on the boulevard because it will not work for the truck to pick up the cans.
“The big thing is where they set it and that there is nothing around so the truck can get to it,” Fulsebakke said.
If residents place bags or different cans than the assigned ones, the city will not pick-up those items, and the residents will have to call the city to come pick these items up and will be charged for the service.
Letters will be sent out to residents granting information on the cans when the city prepares to distribute the cans.
Once the new truck is here, only one individual will drive and operate the truck from the inside of the cab.
The cost of the new truck for the city is estimated at $275,000, while the cans will place an additional estimated cost of around $80,000 to $85,000.
The cans will start arriving in the summer of 2014, while the new truck will arrive in the city sometime in September of 2014. The present garbage truck will stay in the city and be utilized in removing garbage from town’s dumpsters.
The new truck will hold 27 yards of garbage, compared to the present one which holds 20 yards.
“It is just a hair longer than the truck we have now,” Fulsebakke said. “Weight wise it is about the same because the new truck doesn’t pack like the old truck which packs it pretty tight.”
SNOW ROUTE
In recent weeks, the city employees have been placing snow route signs up in the city. The council has designated seven streets in the town as snow routes, which will also change the way in how snow is going to remove from the streets compared to the past.
“Residents have to get their cars off the street when we get a snow fall so when we come up to blade we can get the street completely clean. They (the council) say they are going to send law enforcement with us so if vehicles are in the street they will have them towed.”
The snow route will be placed on Bennett, Ohmer, Sinclair, Main, Thompson and two blocks on Fifth Street and two blocks on Sixth Street between Sinclair and Thompson so people know where they can park and cannot park in the city.
“The signs will be posted every three blocks and then on every block up town,” Fulsebakke said.
These streets were chosen because they are emergency routes for the ambulance and fire trucks.
“These routes are the ones we go early for,” Fulsebakke said. “We do these and the schools first and then work the other streets.”
With new changes coming to the city’s services it is asking local residents to remember the changes and assist as best you can to make the changes an easy transition for everyone.