Dateline: May 3, 2001

City plans new waste transfer station 

Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

The City of Clarendon unveiled plans for a new solid waste transfer station during a public hearing prior to last Tuesday’s board of aldermen meeting.

The station will be built in front of the city’s Three Feathers Recycling Center on W. North Front Street near the grain elevator, and construction will be partially funded by a grant from the Panhandle Regional Planning Commission (PRPC).

When the job is completed, citizens will be able to back their cars or trucks up a slope to dump trash, tree limbs, or recyclables into one of five roll-off boxes.

City Superintendent Jim Roberts says the facility will be open seven days a week for the convenience of local citizens.

The concept of a transfer station pre-dates 1995 when the Three Feathers center was opened, and the design of the station will be based on a similar facility Alderman Billy Jack Land visited near Possum Kingdom a couple of years ago.

Mayor Tex Selvidge believes the station will be a benefit to the city.

“Now [citizens] have to dump their trash on the ground if they can’t lift it high enough to get it in the box,” he said. “This will be a lot easier; they can just drive straight in there and drop it in. It will also help keep that whole area cleaner and neater.”

The $52,800 PRPC grant will cover the cost of concrete bays for two roll-off boxes and a movable metal gatehouse. The city will provide an in-kind match by doing all the dirt work for the project. Final total cost estimates are not yet available pending completion of designs by the city’s engineering firm.

While the grant only covers two bays, the city plans to build five because it will be more economical to do the whole project at once, city officials say. City Hall has been putting money back to pay for the remainder of the project.

The city estimates it will save at least $182.50 per month in trash dumping costs. No decisions have been made regarding fees for using the new facility.

Roberts says city workers will begin the dirt work soon. Under the terms of the grant, the project must be completed by August 31, 2001.

No adverse comments were made during the public hearing, and the plans were approved.

In other city business, representatives of Planned Parenthood addressed the board of aldermen during their regular meeting. The local office closed last week, and efforts are being made to re-open it in September.

Planned Parenthood officials say they provide reproductive health services to uninsured people, and the majority of patients of the local office were poor, married, working women. The local office was opened in 1972, but the agency’s budget has not been increased in the last ten years. Representatives say finding a facility that would house their office at no rent or with free utilities would help make up their budget shortfall.

The board voiced support for Planned Parenthood. No action was taken at last week’s meeting.

The board also heard from directors of the Audie L. Murphy Rural Preservation Foundation, which is based in Memphis. The newly formed foundation hopes to preserve the rural way of life and plans to raise money that could be granted to homegrown projects primarily in Donley and Hall counties.

 Alton Gaines and Jay Gage addressed the board regarding the desire of Mrs. L.B. Matheson to donate her property on N. Jefferson St. for use as a park. Playground equipment is already on the property, and a new community organization has begun improvements to the area.

Water meters and water valves were discussed. The board voted to have Roberts and City Secretary Janice Barbee get together and write an ordinance requiring a valve be placed on the customer’s side of the meter when new meters are requested and new taps put in. The cost will be borne by the consumer.

A resolution was passed to authorize the fire chief to represent the volunteer fire department in applying for a grant to purchase ten sets of bunker gear and ten air packs for the firefighters.