07/15/08

Some Jerome county residents say they still need a place to dump their burn barrels.

Tuesday, Jerome County Commissioners listened to the concerns of area residence - on the recent ban on the dumping of burn barrels at the transfer station.

One of the major concerns is fires sparked by ashes not fully extinguished before they are dumped in to solid waste trailers.

Lee Halper told commissioners he believed people should still be able to dump at the Jerome site because there are two pits designated for that.

Others who spoke also expressed their concern of what would happen now that people are no longer allowed to dump burn barrels.

Residents requested commissioners ask Southern Idaho Solid Waste to allow Jerome to continue dumping burn barrels at its transfer station.

Commissioners did pose the question to executive director Terry Schultz who said there is a possibility of developing a middle ground policy on the issue.

Speaking of trash, Terry Shultz also told Jerome County Commissioners that the current property at the Jerome transfer station will need to be expanded.

He says the Jerome sight is one of three major stations for Southern Idaho Solid Waste.

He says the expansion would accommodate several procedures currently being conducted at the sight.

"We have about 3 or 4 activities to reduce the amount of garbage that goes into a trailer and is hauled off to a landfill and one of them is handling inert material on sight and that is what we call construction and demolition debris."

He says the process is much cheaper to do it at the transfer stations. He expects the expansion will be needed in the next 2 to 4 years.