By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Repair, replace, or build a temporary facility on the site of the county transfer station are all options county commissioners could choose, but first they need to gather information.

Commissioners met Monday with two consultants from Wichita State University. Misty Bruckner, director of Public Policy and Management Center and associate director of Hugo Wall School of Public Affairs, and John Waltner, former Harvey County administrator, talked about the county’s need to either make repairs to the transfer station, replace it with a new building, or build a temporary facility.

Commissioners aren’t armed with enough information to make decisions.

Bruckner said one problem is that the county has no “plan B” for the event the transfer station cannot be used and a new or temporary building has not been built.

Bruckner said commissioners need to gather information on future needs, regulations, and anticipated volume; what other counties are doing; options for transfer station locations; and community wishes.

Commissioners listened to an engineer’s presentation a week ago, but not all needed information is available.

Bruce Boettcher and David Devore of BG Consultants last week estimated the price of the project would range from $356,000 to repair the existing transfer station to $736,000 to build on a site north of the existing transfer station.

Making a list on a large tablet, Bruckner said commissioners could do nothing with a failing transfer station and have refuse hauled by a contractor; repair the current site; build a new facility; and build a temporary transfer station with a different permanent use in mind for when it’s no longer needed.

Bruckner recommended a feasibility study to help determine what the county does to solve the problem.

Waltner said commissioners need to find out the cost of transferring waste.

Drawing up a plan to address the problem, commissioners set out tasks and a timeline to accomplish them.

• By Jan. 1, find out the cost of emergency transfer of refuse if repairs are not made in time.
• By mid-January, gather information on how much money other counties have spent to build new transfer stations in the last five years.
• By Feb. 1, get city approval for a temporary transfer station site.
• By March 1, get bids for repair of the existing transfer station and building a temporary transfer station.