Winfield encouraging more residents to recycle; looking for diesel fuel options with closing of Country Store

By Grace King, Mt. Pleasant News

WINFIELD ? Des Moines County Regional Solid Waste would like to see cities like Winfield recycling more.

Darven Kendell, of Des Moines County Regional Solid Waste, spoke with members of the Winfield City Council during their regular meeting on Wednesday, March 14, about how they can encourage residents to recycle more.

Kendell said that around 28 percent of households in counties that use Des Moines Regional Solid Waste take advantage of the recycling program. They would like to see at least half of the population in the counties they serve recycling.

Kendell gave the council flyers to hang up to promote the program more. City Clerk Angie Oepping said that residents are already paying for the recycling privilege and it comes across their bill as garbage fees.

Recycling in Winfield is picked up every other Wednesday.

In addition to discussing the city?s garbage and recycling collection, the council considered options when it comes to purchasing fuel for their diesel-run city vehicles. After the Country Store in Winfield closed down, the city is left without any place to purchase diesel fuel.

Oepping said the council is looking at ways they can purchase fuel to keep locked away in their Public Works Maintenance shed. One of the council members, who works in insurance, is looking into what types of liabilities and other insurance issues this could cause. Oepping said the council hopes to find a solution ?pretty quickly,? and that they need diesel fuel for their tractors and other city vehicles.

The council also heard an auditor?s recommendations on how they can improve their budget. The auditor just completed a regular examination in the last couple weeks. Oepping said that they always get ?dinged? on segregation of duties, like a lot of small cities do, because there are only two employees in the office.

?It?s kind of hard to segregate everything,? Oepping said.

The auditor also gave advice on how the city can deal with reconciling of delinquent accounts. The city sends out 480-some bills each month and Oepping said they have some residents who have either left town with a balance or consistently pay a month behind.

The city is trying to figure out the best solution to recuperate that money, Oepping said. ?Say we bill out $50,000 that month. Are we bringing in $50,000 as well? It?s hard to do when people are always a month behind,? she said.

The city is also looking into a solution to the abandoned house at 209 E. Pine St. Oepping said the owner hasn?t lived at that residence for two to three years and the building is slowly deteriorating. The city has reached out to the homeowner to ?get something done with that property,? Oepping said.

Ultimately, the city hopes the property owner awards the city the title to the property so they can either sell it to someone who could fix it up or tear the house down.

In other news, a petition is going around Winfield for a Dollar General in town. Mayor Chris Finnell is heavily pushing for a new store. Oepping said Finnell was in contact with someone at Dollar General, who thought that at this time, Winfield doesn?t have enough residents that would shop at a Dollar General. They are hoping the petition will show the store the residents would frequent a Dollar General in town.

At a request from organizers of Winfield?s annual Easter Egg Hunt, the council approved donating $100 toward purchasing supplies. This is the first time the city has donated to the Easter Egg Hunt. Oepping said that Winfield?s Chamber used to do it, but the Chamber disbanded leaving the Easter Egg Hunt without enough funding.

The council also renewed their ICAP insurance, which increased $1,500 from last year. ICAP is general insurance to cover equipment buildings and vehicles.

Although the city council typically changes their meeting times in conjunction with Daylight Savings, they will vote on an ordinance next month to keep the council meeting at 5 p.m. year-around instead of pushing the meeting back to 7 p.m. during the warmer months.

There will be a public hearing for an amendment to this year?s current fiscal year 2018 budget at the next Winfield City Council meeting on April 11 at 5 p.m.