RIVERS
BANNER January 20, 2017
ersary v i n Celebrating our 108th An
Gazette-Reporter
Serving the Rivers, Rapid City and Oak River areas for 107 years
Volume 109, Issue 29
89¢ + tax
Collection contract comes to an end By Sheila Runions Banner Staff
A
press release from Riverdale Municipality in the Dec. 23 issue of Rivers Banner informed readers that garbage and recycling collection in Rivers, Wheatland and Chimo would change the first of arch hat ate was selected because Feb. 28 is the expiry of the current collection contract. What no one expected was a Jan. 4 accident which necessitated a quicker changeover to the new service provider. Dallas Murray damaged his right hand to the extent that the tips of two fin ers were amp tated and a third was broken that day. Dallas would have completed 30 years of service next month as the garbage man in Rivers. His brother Grant Murray was successful in winning the garbage tenders for the last three decades but when council once again called for tenders, his bid was no longer competitive. ayor o ill says, ith si nificant chan es to the service this time around, we put out a request for proposal that included full service requirements of the municipality. Like any other tender, it was a matter of selecting the best proposal for Riverdale Municipality, based on many merits of the proposals including, but not limited to, price.” After Dallas’ mishap, council worked with Municipal Waste Management (the successful contractor to start in March) to expedite their contract and start Friday, Jan. 13. While the process of collection has been let to a non-local company,
Gill says the cost will drop, tho h specific n m ers were not given. In Rivers the waste levy for 2016 was $64.50; this included garbage pick-up every other week and recycling on the alternate week. In Wheatland, along Hwy. 25 from Rivers to Chimo Resort and in that area itself, garbage was picked up every week; those residents had no recycling collection. he ar a e levy will increase for Rivers residents but will decrease for residents in Wheatland and Chimo Resort as they were at a considerably higher levy due to being under a separate contract he new ylaw is presently being developed so the final ollar fi re is yet to e etermine he overall cost of waste management in the municipality, which includes the recycling depot and waste disposal site, is expected to go down considerably.” he ecrease will e welcome news to Wheatland and Chimo home owners who wondered if the rate would increase because they too, are now owners of black garbage bins; Rivers properties were given bins in August 2014. All residents in the contract area will also receive recycling bins (like the black ones, only with blue lids); these are expected to arrive by the end of February. Gill provided no ollar fi res for comparison p rposes, simply statin , cost of the new bins is very comparable.” Businesses in Rivers will now be exempt from the waste levy because they will no longer have
Celebrate on Jan. 28!
Photo by Sheila Runions
Garbage collection changed in Rivers on Friday, Jan. 13 from a local man lifting bags into a compactor to a truck from Souris doing all the dirty work.
Monday-Friday collection. For the next six weeks, large dumpsters are in place for business use but beyond that Gill says, ommercial properties will no longer be charged the levy unless they opt to take a residential bin and receive the same service he commercial service requirements in our community vary from requiring very little to requiring large bins and regular service. Riverdale Municipality has decided it is in everyone’s best interest that the business’ negotiate a service tailored to their particular needs and that they be responsible for their own service contracts.” While Dallas may now enjoy retirement, another Rivers man is picking up where he left off. Municipal Waste Management’s eneral mana er im liver says, e have ay Birch working for us. We try to support the local economy; we hire from the different areas. We
don’t go to Brandon to buy our office f rnit re or whatever e support the local economy; they are using our service so we try to support them too. We don’t even price out the competition in other towns, we just buy locally. We’re not just going to pick carts and leave, we want to be involved in the community. We will host a barbecue in Rivers this summer with all proceeds given back to the community, and MWM will match it as well. We also have a counter in the truck and every container we tip, five cents oes into the charity pot. A nickel doesn’t sound like a lot, but it adds up to say $300 every six months, all of which we give back to local groups, whether they are food banks or water parks.” MWM was started in Souris 22 years ago and it now provides collection services in 13 municipalities and has a second office in or en esi es col-
lection service, they rent large dumpsters (such as the ones in Rivers’ business district), rollover carts for construction sites and oil containers for industrial p rposes hey have their own landfill near Souris and part of the contract with Riverdale includes transferring the household waste from Rivers’ waste site to the MWM site. As last month’s press release reported, will e o r new service provider for not only residential curb side pickup, but additionally to transfer household waste from the present waste disposal site to a regional waste management site. Rather than being dumped on the ground, household waste at our present site will be placed into large containers and transferred to a regional site on an as needed basis. All other receiving areas of the lan fill will remain as is for the immediate future.”