DC facilities committee forwards sale or lease of transfer station to executive committee
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — Members of the Dunn County Facilities Committee would like to see the former transfer station west of Menomonie on state Highway 29 put back into use for collecting recyclables.
To continue making progress on a possible lease or sale, the facilities committee at the June 22 meeting forwarded the issue of the transfer station’s future to the Dunn County Executive Committee for a recommendation and to obtain legal advice from Dunn County Corporation Counsel Nick Lange.
Mike Rogers, chair of the facilities committee, said he likes the idea of leasing the transfer station so the county can still “hold onto an asset” but also still maintain control over the use of the asset.
“If we lease it, we would know service would be provided to the public. I think we should continue to push the issue along,” he said.
When Dunn County decided to close down the solid waste and recycling program, Menomonie Disposal, several other companies, and UW-Stout were interested in the transfer station for a recycling center, said Scott Nabbefeld, director of the Dunn County Facilities Department.
The issue was whether to sell the transfer station or lease it and how much it would cost to bring the transfer station up to code, and then the county decided to keep it for a year, he said.
Dunn County Solid Waste and Recycling ceased operations on December 31, 2021.
Since that time, GFL Environmental Inc. has purchased Menomonie Disposal and Paul’s Industrial Garage, Nabbefeld said.
Executive
Kelly McCullough, chair of the Dunn County Board, told the facilities committee that it would be best to bring the sale or lease of the transfer station to the executive committee before proceeding with additional work on a sale or lease.
“It’s a bigger political lift for a sale than a lease,” he said.
Part of the previous concerns about the sale of the transfer station would be whether Dunn County would have to pay for toxics remediation, McCullough said.
If the facility is leased, the county would not have to do any toxics remediation. If the facility was sold to a non-government entity, then the county would have to do toxics remediation, he said.
Tim Lienau, county board supervisor from Menomonie and a member of the facilities committee, said he had been a member of the Dunn County Solid Waste and Recycling Management Board.
Another concern about the transfer station is the additional property that goes with it, he said.
The Dunn County Board approved purchasing 20 acres from Justin Merritt for a total price of $175,000 in March of 2017 to have extra land available for expanding the transfer station.
The 20-acre parcel west of the transfer station was part of a 29-acre parcel that had been appraised for $137,000.
The transfer station “is past its best days,” and to lease the facility, the county will have to put some money into it, Lienau said, adding that in his opinion, the facilities committee should move forward with leasing or selling the transfer station.
In a commercial lease, the cost of repairs could be included in the lease, Rogers said.
If the cost of repairs is included in the lease, then Dunn County could take a smaller amount in lease payments but still negotiate a favorable situation for the county, he said.
Non-mandated
The townships that are doing recycling do not take larger items, such as refrigerators, Rogers said.
Most of the municipalities are recycling 14 or 15 items, but the list the county recycled was larger, McCullough said.
Non-mandated recyclables include items such as appliances, furniture, light bulbs, batteries, tires and used oil.
Colfax Solid Waste and Recycling has a list of non-mandated recyclables similar to the items Dunn County used to collect that are accepted at the Colfax collection site and at the Elk Mound collection site.
Municipalities that are part of the Colfax Responsible Unit are the Village of Colfax and the Towns of Colfax, Grant, Otter Creek, Tainter and Wilson, and the Village of Elk Mound and the Towns of Elk Mound and Spring Brook.
People who live in municipalities that are not part of Colfax Solid Waste and Recycling can purchase a permit that will allow them to bring their trash and recyclables to either the Colfax site or the Elk Mound site.
Process
The facilities committee should forward the transfer station to the executive committee, and then the executive committee can send the issue back to the facilities committee for the detailed work of selling or leasing the facility, McCullough said.
The transfer station also would be a good location for medication collections and as a place for collecting toxic household waste, Lienau said.
The City of Menomonie has had good luck in getting grants for toxic waste collection, and the county could probably get some advice about where and how to apply, said McCullough, who also is a member of the Menomonie City Council.
The issue should go to the executive committee for discussion and advice on the legal process from the corporation counsel, he said.
Lienau said he believed that “once the word gets out” there would be interest in the transfer station.
The facilities committee unanimously approved a motion to forward the future of the transfer station to the executive committee for a legal opinion and recommendations from the executive committee to the facilities committee.
