BENTONVILLE -- County officials said Saturday's county spring cleanup was a success, but cost considerations may end the fall event in favor of other options.
The county on Monday was still sorting material dropped off at the Road Department site in Bentonville, said John Sudduth, general services administrator. Employees and volunteers will be busy for several days, Sudduth said.
Convenience Center
The Benton County Convenience Center is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. most Saturdays. The center is closed some holiday weekends and for county cleanup days. The center is at the Benton County Solid Waste District facility at 5702 Brookside Road near Centerton. For more information, visit the district website at www.bcswd.com or call 479-795-0751.
Source: Benton County Solid Waste District
Visitors filled four trash trucks and 21 Dumpsters on Saturday, Sudduth said.
"It takes us days to get rid of this stuff," Sudduth said. "We'll get it cleaned up."
The county won't have a complete record of the number of residents who participated and the volume of material dropped off until the final loads of material are sorted and hauled away, Sudduth said.
A preliminary count showed about 1,577 people visited the Bentonville Road Department yard and another 158 went to the Road Department yard in Garfield. No details were available from the Road Department yard in Decatur, Sudduth said.
County Judge Bob Clinard worked several stations Saturday, from paints and hazardous household waste to tires and bulky items disposal, to get a better overview of how the event was organized and operated. He favors keeping at least the spring cleanup as an annual event.
The Committee of the Whole was briefed in February on the cost of the spring and fall cleanups and possible replacement of one or both by an expansion of a "convenience center" near Centerton where waste is collected. Sudduth, Teresa Sidwell, environmental coordinator, and Wendy Cravens, director of the Benton County Solid Waste District, made the presentation.
The cost of the cleanups is growing, and the convenience center offers the same services at a lower price. The cleanups cost about $110,000 in 2014, Sidwell said. The county collected 1,740 cubic yards of waste material in 3,125 loads last year, an average cost per load of $35, Sidwell told the committee. The convenience center, open 44 Saturdays throughout the year, collected 2,500 cubic yards of waste in 2,534 loads, an average cost per load of $12.
Cravens said Monday a plan has been developed for a pilot program to replace the fall cleanup event this year and expand the convenience center by adding satellite locations in Rogers and Siloam Springs. The plan likely will be presented to the Committee of the Whole in May, Cravens said.
The convenience center originally was opened at the Road Department site in Bentonville, but the county partnered with the Solid Waste District to take over the center's operation beginning in 2011, Cravens said. The center is at the district location on Brookside Road near Centerton. The county's cost to keep the convenience center operating was $32,089 in 2014.
The proposal to expand the convenience center would allow residents to dispose of bulky and household hazardous waste throughout the year rather than waiting for the cleanup. Days and hours of operation for the satellite sites haven't been set, but Cravens expects they will be open "a couple of days a week." The main convenience center operation in Centerton is open from 8 a.m. to noon most Saturdays.
"Obviously, all this is still up to the Quorum Court," Cravens said.
Kurt Moore of District 13 and chairman of the Committee of the Whole, said he thinks having the convenience center take the place of the fall cleanup is worth exploring. The county cleanups are popular with residents and are worth preserving, he said.
"I think the popularity of the event can't be ignored," Moore said. "It's especially popular with city residents, some of whom don't feel like they get very many services from the county for their tax dollars."
Moore wants to see the county do more to promote the Solid Waste District facility and the convenience center operation and retain the spring cleanup.
"I know the fall cleanup is also popular, but most people aren't aware the convenience center does basically the same thing as the cleanup," Moore said.
Tom Allen of District 4 and chairman of the Finance Committee, wants to see the proposal to expand the convenience center operation.
"The Quorum Court basically has the attitude of wanting to make the citizens more aware of the convenience center," Allen said, saying the idea of adding two new locations was interesting.
"I think that might be a good step," he said. "It's definitely a possibility we should explore."
NW News on 04/21/2015