Instead of four of the five centers remaining open six days — 60 hours — a week, the plan is for the centers at Alum Springs, Perryville and Mitchellsburg to be open 40 hours while Gose Pike, the busiest center, will remain open 60 hours. Forkland, which sees the least traffic, will be open 32 hours a week.
The plan, which would go into effect July 1, will reorganize staffing so there are four full-time employees and three part-time, instead of three full-time and eight part-time workers. The change is projected to save about $28,000.
“We want to make sure there is efficiency and accountability at every one of the centers,” Fechter said.
“We want to make it as painless as possible for our residents and really keep cutting down on the out-of-county dumping because that hurts our residents financially. It’s their tax dollars that pay for that.”
Fechter said the grant application she is working on now will be one of the most ambitious she has ever put together and will position the county to make up for much of the funding that once came from the city.
The grant would total about $200,000 not counting in-kind labor and would purchase new trucks, trailers, boxes and other equipment.
The purpose of the grant, which will be awarded in July, is to provide curbside service for all of the 1,115 homes in Junction City, similar to the grant that got a curbside program started in Perryville. Fechter said it would be a positive development for a community that currently doesn’t have curbside solid waste pickup.
“What makes this so unique and why we think Junction City will receive this so well is that they are under the auspices of the county solid waste management plan, so there’s no pickup for garbage,” Fechter said.
“If someone can cut 75 percent of their trash with recycling, it is going to make things more convenient for them.”
It also would allow curbside pickup in about 170 homes in Old Bridge and Riverview subdivisions, with recyclables being sorted at the curb. There would be a visible branding component to the effort, with conspicuous recycling containers and continued education and advertising.
Fechter, who has headed up the education efforts for curbside recycling in Danville, is optimistic about the chances of landing the first major grant she has sought without Danville because of the success the center has had implementing grants in the past.
“We’ve shown we can go the distance and we get results every time,” Fechter said.
However, Fechter also is highlighting the early success of the Danville recycling program, which currently has about 46 percent participation, as an example of how the center can lay a foundation for successful recycling efforts.
The relationship between the city and the recycling center was not completely severed when Danville’s contract with M&M Sanitation went into effect last year.
The city is paying part of Fechter’s salary for the work she does in education and supporting programs such as limb removal and destruction. The recycling center also continues to provide document destruction, mulch giveaways, tire collection and the administration of litter abatement funds for picking up roadside garbage.
Fechter said the educational efforts and tracking of monthly curbside figures for the city will continue. If the participation starts to level off, which she expects, she will be able to target neighborhoods for door-to-door education.
