ELY – City Council members here returned to their chambers for their regular meeting Tuesday night after a several weeks of virtual gatherings due to caution over the coronavirus pandemic.
“Boards and commissions can also meet here now,” said Mayor Chuck Novak, “and social distancing is the rule.”
A short agenda allowed the council to spend just 30 minutes together in the same room.
Answers were provided to a major concern of many residents over the last couple of weeks, that being the status of the city’s yard waste mulch pile.
Over the winter, city residents endured the relocation of the recycled material bins because of the trailhead building development and road extension construction project on the west end of town, but questions remained on the status of the yard waste disposal area that was in the same location but also shut down.
As everyone now knows, the recycled material bins have been relocated to the entrance of the softball field complex on the other end of town, but residents were getting antsy as winter turned to spring and no information was disseminated from city hall on what they should do with all of their grass clippings, leaves and tree branches.
The much-anticipated memo from the Clerk-Treasurer’s office was finally revealed this week.
“We are proposing to allow city residents to dispose of brush, leaves and grass clippings at the old dump site on Look Out Ridge Road,” Harold Langowski said. He noted that city officials had toyed with the idea of having a more centralized collection area. “With this COVID-19 that would be very difficult to do. In lieu of that we proposed using the old city dump.”
Hours of access will be limited, for now, to just four days for the next two months.
“In an effort to ensure the site does not become a dumping area for trash, appliances and furniture, we propose to have (the new mulch pile) staffed and open on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month for May and June,” Langowski said.
If city residents use the area only for its intended purpose, officials may look at opening the mulch pile for additional days this summer.
Langowski pointed out that no one is allowed to just dump their trash and unwanted items in any vacant or out-of-the way area.
“Just two weeks ago we had a recliner dumped behind Rural Living Environments,” he said. “It is unbelievable that people will dump where they think they can get away with it.”
The new mulch pile location at the former city dump site will be gated and staffed by a city employee on four Saturdays, May 9 and May 23, and June 13 and June 27, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“We’ll take brush, grass clippings, leaves and pine needles and nothing else,” Langowski said.
No plastic bags will be accepted, and nothing that can’t be composted will be allowed.
“We will have people directing folks to put (their materials) in a pile,” he added. “We had folks up there just recently who dumped a pile right in the middle of the road. I don’t know why they can’t seem to understand that there is a pile to (add to).”
Brush and grass clippings are also accepted at the St. Louis County transfer station located off Highway 21, about halfway to Babbitt.
“They also take old lawn furniture and other garbage, so that option is there,” Langowski said. “We will give this a try for May and June and look at expanding (hours of operation) after that,” he said. Hopefully this COVID-19 will change and allow us to adjust to what we are envisioning.”
Langowski reinforced that users should drive slowly on the gravel road at the site. Any complaints from residents will surely shut down the city service, Langowski warned.
In a related matter, the annual city-wide cleanup is likely to be put on the shelf this year due to the coronavirus. The city’s sanitation committee remains silent on the issue.