Emergency Declared to Move Waste from Transfer Station
On Monday, April 7th, 2024, the Adams County Commissioners held a special meeting to discuss and approve transport options for the waste accumulating in New Meadows. Commissioner Vicki Purdy attended via phone and Prosecuting Attorney Peter Donovan via Zoom.
Since the slide on Highway 95, the road closures have prevented any commercial vehicles from traveling the route and waste from the transfer station in New Meadows has been piling up. Normally it would be transported to the Goodrich landfill via Highway 95. Steve Shelton, with Solid Waste, said they currently have nine full bins, 6 that are 20 yards and 3 that are bigger in New Meadows that need to be dumped. Commissioner Daren Ward said he talked to the Valley County Commissioners, hoping to work out some sort of trade, however, they basically said no. Valley County has contracted with someone else and has to go through them, and they want to charge Adams County $125 a ton. To take it to Clay Peak in Payette would be $60 a ton, but a much longer drive. The commissioners did some calculations and decided it would still be the most cost effective to bring it to Valley County after factoring in transportation cost for alternatives, including bringing it all the way around and back to the Goodrich landfill.
Commissioner Joe Iveson said they are making fast progress on the repairs for Highway 95 and it might be open again in only a couple weeks. He wondered if they dumped the nine bins that are full if they could get away with saving up again until the road is reopened and only having to dump once. Shelton said the problem with this is they would have to do some work to the facility to keep it there long term. They decided to start dumping smaller amounts at a time until they had more news on an opening date for the highway so they might be able to avoid dumping a large amount in Valley County right before it opens.
Prosecuting Attorney Peter Donavan advised that in order to quickly approve the changes without going through a bidding process, the chairman could declare it an emergency. So, Chairman Viki Purdy declared it a disaster and that they would be taking the refuse to Valley County until Highway 95 was repaired and reopened.
