County supervisors discuss possible changes in rural garbage collection

For now, garbage collection in rural parts of Winneshiek County will stay the way it is.  But that's not to say changes aren't coming in the future.

Supervisors on Monday morning gave the go-ahead to County Landfill Manager Dave Hageman to hire a part-time worker to replace a retiring part-time workers who has been staffing some of the rural garbage collection sites two or three days a week.

Supervisors praised the current system, which has six collection points scattered throughout the county.  County Board Chairman Les Askelson says garbage dumping in ditches "was out of control" before the county went to a system of staffed collection points.

Rural Decorah resident Paul Hunter suggested the county turn over the rural garbage collection system to private businesses.  He said the current system costs rural property taxpayers a total of $152,000 a year and suggested the county could save that money by letting private garbage haulers take over the service.

Supervisors questioned whether a private system would work, but Hunter replied, "How do we know if we don't try it?"

County Landfill Manager Dave Hageman agreed to start getting signatures from rural residents as they use the rural dumpsters--as a way to give information to county supervisors about just how widely the service is used.