Temporary Dump to Open Late This Month

DAYTON – Columbia County has a plan for reopening the transfer station (dump) by the end of August, and citizens won’t have to go anywhere new.

The temporary facilities will be located at the current site but away from where contractors will be working to repair and rebuild the permanent facilities.

The Columbia County Transfer Station at 500 S. Cottonwood St., where citizens could deposit garbage for transport to a landfill outside of the county, was closed after a July 17 fire destroyed much of the facility’s equipment and seriously damaged the main building.

Temporary Plan

The plan, as presented last week to county commissioners by Columbia County Engineer Andrew Woods, is to place dumpsters for temporary collection and install areas for recycling, household waste and other refuse in the lower area where citizens used to deposit “white good” (or large appliances for disposal).

To use the temporary facilities, Woods explained, vehicles will enter through the lower gate, where previously traffic exited the transfer station.

They will stop at a temporary scale, turn around, back into the dumping area, go back to the scale, and then leave through the city’s access road.

The county is still working with Dayton and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to get permission to use this shared road.

Temporary dumping facilities will cost an estimated $80,000 to install, according to Woods. But a $5,000 insurance deductible should be the county’s only out-of-pocket expense for the entire project – both the installation of temporary facilities and the repair and replacement of property damaged in the fire, Woods said. Insurance will cover the remainder.

The Fire

Columbia County Commissioners declared an emergency after the fire so they could circumvent bid law, which requires lengthy procedures and timelines.

“We’re dealing with the health and safety of the community here, and we need to be able to get started right away,” Commissioner Dwight Robaske said at the time.

The cause of the fire is unknown, according to Columbia County Fire Marshal Kim Lyonnais. No accelerants were found on the scene, but because the trailer where the fire originated was filled with a wide variety of trash, there isn’t a good way to determine which items may have combusted, he said. The case will remain open, he said.

Restoration of Service

With the temporary arrangements, the county will be able to restore collection services for everything from general household waste to cardboard, yard waste, appliances, household hazardous waste and e-waste (electronics for disposal). The public works office, which manages the transfer station, will arrange for a small office and computer so cash and credit cards can still be accepted.

The Department of Ecology requires that hazardous waste and e-waste be stored under cover, Woods said. The system being installed for this should work for the permanent facility as well. Most of the other temporary facilities will not be used in the permanent construction, he said.

The fire last month, which started in the refuse trailer parked under the bay of the main collection building, destroyed the truck and trailer used for collecting and hauling garbage to Pasco. The mini excavator, used to help sort and move trash, was partially damaged. And the structure itself took a heavy toll.

Restoring Permanent Service

Woods didn’t have an estimate last week on the cost to rebuild the main structure, but he said the concrete bay sustained significant damage.

“Basically it was a total loss on the floor,” he said. Two of the carrier beams were “likely damaged beyond repair,” and two columns will probably need to be replaced, he said.

“The bay sustained exposure to temperatures between 1100 and 1700 degrees, and you can see where the heat penetrated through the concrete to the reinforcing steel,” Woods said. The reinforcing steel in the concrete got hot enough that it began to experience ductile failure, he said.

“It will be interesting to price it (the repairs) out,” Woods said. “To get to the floor and the reinforced concrete members, we will have to essentially tear the building apart.”

Upgrade Planned?

Columbia County had plans to upgrade the transfer station in 2016, according to the solid waste management plan presented to the commissioners in the spring by Woods. The report states that $750,000 would be required to pay for the upgrade.

The county has said nothing formal on whether the upgrade could be added on during this repair/reconstruction project, but the commissioners and Woods discussed the possibility at their emergency meeting on July 17 following the fire.

Meanwhile, the county’s insurance adjustor has approved $8,300 for the repair of the mini excavator. An estimate of $48,000 to fix the truck used to haul the refuse trailer is under review by the adjustor, Woods said.

And bid opening for a new, 53-foot refuse trailer to replace the one destroyed in the fire will take place on Aug. 19 at the regular meeting of the board of county commissioners.