Columbia Falls green-box changes working well

Three months after establishing new hours and stationing a full-time attendant at the Columbia Falls green-box site, Flathead County Public Works Director Dave Prunty said the changes are working well for the county.

“We’ve had multiple compliments,” he said, “and of course a few from people who don’t like it as well.”

On Aug. 1, the county switched hours at the fenced Columbia Falls site from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to provide consistency with the landfill hours, Prunty said.

The site still is open seven days per week, which should allow users to find a time to drop off refuse, he said.

Putting an employee at the Columbia Falls site, one of the county’s busiest green-box collection sites, essentially has put an end to “Dumpster diving,” and that has rankled a few people, Prunty said.

The attendant is an additional cost, but did not increase the Solid Waste District’s number of full-time equivalent employees.

Prunty said the district has been reducing staff with the economic downturn.

“The Solid Waste Board has been wanting to staff the busy valley sites for many years now,” Prunty said.

“We have abuses such as contractors using the sites, fighting and loss of revenue to salvagers in the metals pile that is a cost to the general ratepayer.”

Prunty said the district never should have allowed scavenging because of health and liability concerns.

The Columbia Falls green-box site is the only one that has on-site supervision.