ST. PAUL – During the regular County of St. Paul council meeting on Nov. 14, a request came before council, asking the municipality to submit a bid for the building of a Class 3 inert waste cell for the Evergreen Regional Waste Management Services Commission (ERWMSC).
Reeve Glen Ockerman asked if the County had the technology, equipment, and the time to build the inert waste cell. He added, “[Do] we need to go purchase or buy any specialty equipment or anything?”
Coun. Louis Dechaine also asked where the digging site would be, concerned that if there was a heavy content of rock, it might damage equipment.
The concern was shared by Coun. Dale Hedrick who said, “I don’t want to wreck equipment.”
Andy Petterson, construction manager with the County, said that there will be “a heavy content of rock but nothing out of the ordinary.”
In 2019, the ERWMSC also paid the County $96,075 to build a Class 3 inert waste cell.
When the County built the 2019 Class 3 inert waste cell, “We didn’t struggle,” said Petterson. He added that the inert waste cell, expected to be built in early fall 2024 or late fall 2024, will be built alongside the inert waste cell built in 2019.
“There’s a lot of gravel pits around there. There’s a lot of rock, but we can navigate it,” said Petterson.
Hedrick said, “As long as we’re not going to wreck equipment out there [and] do a mess... I don’t want to see equipment beat up over.”
Coun. Darrell Younghans moved to submit a bid to the Evergreen Regional Waste Management Services Commission to build the Class III inert waste cell in 2024.
The motion passed.
In a follow-up, when asked how much the project would cost, CAO Sheila Kitz told Lakeland This Week said Public Works would have the estimation for the project completed in the near future. But she said it could be around the same amount as the previous dry waste cell the County completed for the Commission back in 2019.
The ERWMSC is made up of the County of St. Paul, the Town of St. Paul, County of Smoky Lake, Town of Smoky Lake, Town of Elk Point, and the Village of Vilna and the Village of Waskatenau.
The Commission has 15 transfer stations in total.
