Washington changes yard waste center hours

The Washington City Council voted 4-1 to change its yard waste center hours after additional late hours last year brought minimal traffic.

“I’d like to go back to the six Saturdays before Memorial Day and the six Saturdays before Thanksgiving from 7-10 like we normally were,” said Jason Whisler, superintendent of the wastewater treatment plant, where the city’s compost area is located. “So you’d get a spring and a fall round with the extended hours. That’s what we’ve done for probably eight or 10 years.”

The center was open late every Saturday last summer and for six additional Wednesdays in the fall, a policy many city officials said was not worth it.

“Twelve Saturdays, I don’t think, is the end of the world,” Mayor Jaron Rosien said. “The late Wednesdays only received seven people. Eighteen hours of overtime (for) seven cars.”

Council member Steve Gault, the lone vote against the change, said the center should keep more of its late Saturdays.

“I personally think you need to stay open on Saturdays in the summer,” he said. “The grass (doesn’t) quit growing in the summer.”

The city plans to return to discussion on the subject down the road, with council members saying the situation would likely change when West Buchanan Street opens in the next year.

“I think that might be some of the issue now, people don’t want to drive out on the highway,” Council Member Fran Stigers said.

The council also agreed the city needed to make information about the municipal service more visible, a change that would likely push demand for late hours back up.

“We need to get it out there that these are the hours and how easy it is to use, because I think people don’t realize,” Council Member Elaine Moore said. “The people that work outside the city, they don’t always read the paper. We need to get it heard that these are the hours, for these people that do not work in town.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com