Benton County officials weigh cleanup costs

BENTONVILLE -- Benton County officials are preparing for what might be the last of the popular cleanup events.

Increasing costs have prompted officials to look for an alternative service and they are proceeding with a pilot program to expand the convenience center operation, which offers essentially the same services. The largest costs are the collection, handling and disposal of household hazardous wastes, which cost about $38,000 for the spring cleanup, and in bulky waste disposal, which cost about $22,000 in the spring.

Benton County Fall Cleanup

The cleanup is 8 a.m. to noon Oct. 10 at the three county Road Department buildings, in Bentonville, Decatur and Garfield. The county has been offering residents an opportunity twice each year to dispose of paint, household chemicals, batteries, fluorescent light bulbs, furniture, tires, electronics, metal and other household waste. A complete list of acceptable items can be obtained by calling 479-271-1083 or on the website at www.bccleanup.org.

Source: Staff Report

"Potentially, this could be the last one," said John Sudduth, general services administrator, of the Oct. 10 cleanup. "Tentatively, we've put in for two more next year in our budget, one in the spring and one in the fall. The justices of the peace will decide what they want to do. We also have the money in the budget for the pilot program."

Tom Allen of District 4 and chairman of the Budget Committee, said he thinks the cleanup events should end so the pilot program can be fairly evaluated.

"The good news is we'll have the fall cleanup," Allen said. "We'll have that event before the budget for next year is done. Hopefully we'll be talking to everybody who comes out to the event about the pilot program and the convenience center.

"I'm leaning toward going forward with just the pilot program," Allen said. "It will be more costly to have the pilot program and the cleanup events. It will also kind of defeat the purpose of having the pilot program to have that plus the two cleanups."

On paper, the convenience center makes sense, Allen said.

"It's available almost 365 days a year instead of just two days," he said.

The convenience center is at the Benton County Solid Waste District in Centerton and is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. Under the pilot program, satellite centers will be in Rogers and Siloam Springs at yet to be determined sites. The satellite locations would be open two weekdays each week and one Saturday each month. The Centerton site would be open two Saturdays each month

Joel Jones of District 7 said he also favors ending the cleanup events while the expanded convenience center program is being developed and evaluated. Jones said the county has to promote the convenience center to residents as a better choice.

"I think if we really advertise the pilot program, the necessity for the cleanups will be really low," he said. "It would be a duplication of effort to do a big cleanup once or twice a year when people can take their stuff to the convenience center any time during the year."

Teresa Sidwell, environmental coordinator, said the county will be handing out information about the convenience center at the fall cleanup, doing some advertising for the program and promoting it through environmental education efforts.

"Getting the word out is very important to the success of the program," she said.

Centerton Mayor Bill Edwards said his city will do whatever it can to boost the convenience center plan, through social media and at his "Coffee With the Mayor" events. He said the city will work with the county and solid waste district on signs or other ways to make the Centerton site more accessible.

"If you come to the cleanup events, you know people get backed up and it's slow getting through it," Edwards said. "The convenience center you can get in and out pretty quickly. It's handy. They offer pretty much everything the big cleanup does and people don't have to accumulate their stuff for six months. If they'd rather, they can take it to the convenience center any time."

NW News on 10/03/2015

Upcoming Events