June 10, 2021 at 1:12 p.m.
Cass County Board: Household hazardous waste summer collection sites set
The county also accepts household hazardous waste at the main transfer station north of Pine River on Highway 371 during normal business hours throughout the year.
The special collection days include:
June 11-1-4 p.m. at the county highway garage on County Highway 12, south of Jimmy's Restaurant in Walker.
June 20-1-4 p.m. at East Gull Lake City Hall.
July 17-11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Slagle's transfer site east of Longville on County Highway 7.
Aug. 8-10 a.m. to noon at Remer Do It Best Hardware.
Aug. 8-1-3 p.m. at Crooked Lake Town Hall.
Aug. 14-3-5 p.m. at May Township Transfer Station site.
Cass County is a member of the Northwest Minnesota Household Hazardous Waste disposal site at Bagley.
Cass Environmental Services Director John Ringle said the Bagley facility director, Randy Bodensteiner, reported Feb. 20 the facility is running with a positive balance of $127,000, or about 75 percent of the annual budget.
The operation at Bagley receives $35,000 annually from the state of Minnesota from a statewide tax on latex paint sales.
Cass paid $7,287 in 2018 to be a member county of the program, $4,044 for transportation costs and $25,000 for KRD Trucking to operate the county's collection program at the Pine River transfer station.
Cass County disposed of 52,858 pounds of household hazardous waste in 2018.
Hazardous waste includes unused paints, stains, varnishes, herbicides, pesticides, some types of cleaners and other materials.
Three cities in the county will host a cleanup day this summer. None of those will accept hazardous waste or demolition debris, Ringle emphasized.
Times for the cleanup days will be announced later. They include one May 4 at Pillager, another June 22 at Remer and the third June 29 at Longville. Recyclables and trash collected at the transfer sites throughout the year will be collected on those cleanup days in those cities only.
Ringle announced the appointment of Levy Bergstrom as the new aquatic invasive species specialist in environmental service.
Bergstrom earned bachelor degrees in geography and biology from Bemidji State University, with a field emphasis on geographic information systems and planning. He has worked for Pennington County Soil and Water Conservation District since 2014.
Chief Financial Officer Sandra Norikane obtained county board approval to designate the fund balance generated by the solid waste assessment charged on property owners' tax bills as a dedicated fund for solid waste disposal and recycling purposes within the general fund.
That dedicated fund currently has $751,756 in it.
Ringle reported the Pine River Watershed One Watershed One Plan project has advanced to the point where a draft plan will be posted on the county website, www.co.cass.mn.us, and will be discussed at public hearings in June or July.
After that, the plan will be submitted to the Minnesota Board of Soil and Water Resources for approval before the counties and local soil and water conservation districts approve it. This plan includes large portions of Cass and Crow Wing counties and a small sliver of Hubbard and Aitkin counties.
The plan goal, Ringle said, is to protect lakes, streams, drinking water, habitat and forests within the Pine River Watershed. The first target will be to reduce phosphorus runoff going into lakes and to protect sensitive habitat, Ringle said.
The plan area covers 786 square miles in an area from west of Backus and Pine River to east of Breezy Point and Crosslake.
Carrying out the voluntary plan will depend upon grant money becoming available, according to Ringle. It is not intended to depend upon county financing, he said.
The county board approved a request from Leslie Leek to reclassify 40 acres of a 258-acre parcel in Homebrook Township from agriculture/forest to rural residential 10, so it can be subdivided for sale.
The Cass County Planning Commission hosted a public hearing March 11 and recommended the county board approve the change.
The board referred to the planning commission a request from Roger Siltman to reclassify 40 acres from agriculture/forest to rural residential 10 in Wilson Township.
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