Steve Strickler told Allen County Commissioners on Tuesday morning that he has received a much better response than he anticipated for his recycling project.
I just want to thank you guys for the investment in the dumpsters. They filled up rather quickly. In fact we have two semi trailers filled with cardboard and we are trying to figure out what we are going to do with it all, Strickler said. We do need a baler. If things were going well in the dairy business, I would purchase one myself.
Strickler said a cardboard baler would cost anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000.
Just to give you an idea of the difference between the weights of baled loads of cardboard and a load that is not. I took the first load to International Paper in Wichita and we got $65. The second time we had a better understanding of how to sort the stuff and we got $517, Strickler said.
All profits the group makes go back to the Rotary Club, which in turn find ways to spend it in the community.
Strickler said that they are currently having to lean on B&W to use their baler. But that has to be done after 5 p.m. with volunteer labor. But they do have to keep an employee there because it is a liability issue having us there using their equipment.
Its a lot of work, but we all feel passionately about it. Just to keep this stuff out of the landfill. Its a work in progress. Its like a sign I saw in Wichita that says, Now dont you feel better? And you do. Because when we leave we know we are making a difference for our grandkids. Its pretty sad when the largest mountain or hill in Allen County is at the landfill.
Strickler said that they will hold their recycling day on the first Saturday of each month, rather than every two months.
We had a tremendous turnout at the last event. Now I just have to get everyone trained on how to sort. We are taking virtually everything. Right now we are not taking batteries or e-waste, Strickler said.
COMMISSIONERS will need another week to finish the 2020 budget. Going into Tuesdays meeting they wanted to trim the budget by another $970,000.
Receiving the biggest cut was the Road and Bridge fund. However, the cuts will go into effect this year. Commissioners trimmed this years Road and Bridge fund from $4,380,886 down to $3,558,904. They will then carry that money over so next years budget will sit at $4,355,535.
Commissioners are still trying to trim the budget by one more mill to 62 mills, which would be one below last year.
Auditor Rodney Burns suggested taking the additional funds from the Sheriff, Jail and Dispatch fund.
The last five years the Sheriffs budget has increased $590,000, Jail has increased $487,000, Dispatch $432,000, commissioner Jerry Daniels said.
Do you want to know how much I have brought in over the last six years, commissioner? Sheriff Bryan Murphy responded. I dont see any of the money I bring in, not a single penny of it. We had to increase personnel per your request. We had to increase courthouse security, which is an added expense. I brought in over $1 million in revenue. I believe that outweighs the $600,000 in increases.
