Free service draws complaints

For the past several years, the Town of La Conner’s Public Works Department has spent a week each spring hauling yard waste for residents.

“It was just a way to help people do a spring cleanup,” said Public Works Director Brian Lease.

But what started out as a way to help folks who couldn’t haul their branches on their own has turned into a major week-long project, costing the town thousands of dollars.

“Over the years, some people started stockpiling their yard waste throughout the year and then expect the town to come and get it,” Lease said.

In some cases, said Town Administrator John Doyle, crews had to fill a couple of dump truck loads from a single residence.

So this year to try keep the free service manageable, the town announced a size restriction. Crews can quickly pick up piles no larger than 4 feet by 4 feet — which is the size most residents leave out.

There was outcry from some residents. Councilman Dan O’Donnell brought a letter from a constituent to last week’s Town Council meeting, and there have been a couple of protest calls to Town Hall.

Some people argue that the town is actually saving money by bringing over a dump truck and paying workers to pick up their yard waste. Their rationale is that the composting operation at the town’s sewage treatment plant uses plant material — usually purchased wood chips — as a soil amendment when producing compost from sludge.

But the actual costs do not support the theory that hauling people’s yard waste and hiring a contractor to come in and grind it into chips is cheaper for the town.

Figured on a cost-per-cubic-yard basis, the spring pick-up costs the town more than four times per cubic yard of chips than just buying the chips, said Doyle.

Last week during the annual spring yard waste pickup, town crews hauled about 300 cubic yards of material. Lease said that the cost of paying the equivalent of three 40-hour work weeks and the cost of the fuel and equipment used worked out to about $12.28 per cubic yard.

On top of that cost is the amount the Wastewater Treatment Plant must pay to hire a contractor with a grinder to come in and turn it into chips — the grinding cost is $9.66 per cubic yard.

That brings the price per cubic yard of local plant material for the composting operation to $21.94, town officials figure.

In contrast, buying the already chipped soil amendment and having it delivered costs $5.33 per cubic yard.

“It’s definitely more expensive for us to be collecting and grinding yard waste,” said Kelly Wynn, who manages the town’s treatment plant and composting operation.

And the town’s cost doesn’t include the cost of labor at the treatment plant for handling the branches and cuttings, nor does it take into account the $100,000 slab the town installed to have a place to store the local yard waste.

Even so, the town has no plans to abandon the free spring pick-up, Lease and Doyle both said.

“The issue is not over cost,” Doyle said.

Asking residents to keep their piles down to a manageable size is not about money. It’s the Town’s attempt “to keep control over Public Works’ time as they provide this free service that is not really part of our normal duties,” Doyle said.