Swan Vally Community Council
SWAN VALLEY – Members of the public at a June 21 Swan Valley Community Council meeting asked the council to vote to stop further investigation of a Condon Container Site. The Council and Missoula County Commissioners Dave Strohmaier and Juanita Vero offered that although the group of approximately 30 Swan Valley residents present were adamantly in opposition to the proposal, that was not a large enough group to be considered representative of the 704 residents effected by any decision.
The current proposal estimates a cost of a container site at $300 per resident annually. The proposed site would be located on Barber Creek, with four containers and be open two days per week. The county has a lease agreement with the United State Forest Service for a gravel pit that is in operation at the proposed site.
For comparison, Lake County charges a flat $180 annual fee for household waste while Seeley Lake charges $4 for a 32-gallon bag of trash or $18 per cubic yard for out of District residents. The Seeley Lake Refuse District tax is currently at $180 per year, there are more users for the Seeley district, approximately 1,900. The Lake County Site is open and manned two days a week while Seeley Lake is open three days a week.
The Council agreed to work with the Commissioners to get a mailing sent out to all residents within the Swan Valley School District for a consensus of the whole district. The mailing would consist of information regarding the current proposal with a survey for a yes or no vote to continue further investigation of the container site for the Condon area.
Council member Dan Saari said, “You don’t come to one meeting, be against it and the Council voted it down. You have to give everybody the opportunity to be heard.”
“We’ve got to make the whole community aware because it’s a democracy” said Marcia Tapp, Council vice chair.
Shane Stack, Missoula County public works director, presented statistics from the Missoula Voice website. The proposed project was visited by 73 different emails, 87 comments were made and 14 questions asked. Stack advised 52 of the comments voiced concerns about cost or location. Stack recommended the Council continue discussion to address the solution for waste management.
A committee of diverse opinions within the community could be formed to focus on affordability, impacts to wildlife and seek a location that is acceptable to the community, Stack said. “Maybe that doesn’t exist.”
There is no requirement for a disposal site and no deadline for finding a solution, Stack said.
Commenters offered that people traveling Highway 83 can drop garbage at the Seeley Lake Refuse site or the Porcupine site in Lake County. Residents in the Condon area typically either haul garbage to the Swan Site (Porcupine Site) 30 miles away in Lake County or the Seeley Lake Refuse District 36 miles away or pay for garbage service through Republic Services. They suggested further investigation was not necessary.
Mark Nelson, Lake County Solid Waste manager, in an interview following the meeting, stated the Swan Site will likely review operating costs again next winter. The site only had 10 visits per week last winter. Montana State regulations require all dump sites to have containers emptied weekly if they are open, regardless of the amount of waste in the containers.
“There may be a period in the winter where we reduce to one day per week,” Nelson said. “There are a lot of expenses to operations. We spent $6,000 just to plow the site which was only open two days. I felt it was a mild winter.”
“The community [Condon] should recognize keeping the Swan Site open is based on the commissioners and residents of Lake County,” Nelson added.
The next Swan Valley Community Council meeting is tentatively set for July 19 at the Swan Valley Community Hall at 6 p.m.
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