Full Text
About the City by Councilman Kingery Important and timely information I recently had reinforced to me follows: The City of Douglas is charged $37 per ton for municipal waste at the Casper Landfill; however, if it is determined that we have compost products included, the price goes from $37 per ton to about $74 per ton. When a load of waste taken to Casper is determined to be contaminated, the whole load is charged at the higher rate. So instead of costing approximately $740 for a load, the cost goes to almost $1,500 for the same load. I probably knew this at one time, but had forgotten. Since this is lawn mowing season, we probably have several people placing their lawn clippings in their garbage dumpster without realizing what that does to our disposal costs! It is very important to keep your lawn clippings or other compost items out of the regular garbage. A suggestion regarding how to keep compostable items separate is to purchase a separate garbage container(s), based upon the size of your lawn and/or garden and what you can conveniently lift when full. Place your clippings and other compost items in this container(s) and empty it/them into one of our "compost" dumpsters. There are several around town and at the Douglas Landfill, there is a map on the City website. Remember that all compost items, including tree trimmings are received at the Landfill at no charge. Our costs for municipal waste are higher than we had anticipated and rates will have to be increased this next budget year. We all need to recycle as much as we can to reduce the amount we put into our dumpsters and continue to find ways of reducing our waste. Please, please, please do your own pocket and everyone else's pocket a favor and keep the compost separate. The City is trying to keep increases to a minimum for this, and our other Enterprise Fund accounts, and this is one fee each of us can help control by doing our small part. Thank you! On to another important item; City Council elections will be coming up again soon and this is important for you and to the City. We are very fortunate to have four candidates running for two open positions. It is great to have a choice when the time comes to vote. It will be important for you to get to know these candidates and decide who you think will best serve the City and the people of Douglas. After serving you for about 5 1/2 years, here are some of my opinions about what to consider as you vote for a City Council member: Being open minded and listening to all sides is very important. If you have an agenda it is harder to be open minded. Individual ideas, wants and needs should be listened to and considered, however decisions should be based on what is best for the City and the people of the City, not the individual. Everyone should have the right to be heard, but not everyone can have what they want. Differing opinions before a decision is healthy, cooperation after a decision is important. ---PAGE BREAK--- Friendship is two sided; I woudn't ask you to compromise your position, I don't expect you to ask me to compromise my position! I will likely make mistakes. You should expect me to correct them as soon as possible. I think you should vote for the person you trust the most to make good decisions, even if they might disagree with you! So help us keep our City costs as low as we can by doing your part in reducing our garbage load and place your compostable items in the compost dumpsters or at the Landfill. Be serious about picking the City Council persons you trust the most with your tax dollars. You are the City and we work for you!