Jamestown committee to discuss discontinuing collection of glass, clothing, shoes

Apr. 25—JAMESTOWN — The Jamestown Public Works Committee will have more discussion in the future on a request from North Dakota Recycling and Sanitation to modify its contract and to discontinue the collection of glass, clothing and shoes.

North Dakota Recycling & Sanitation owner Ralph Friebel made the request.

Friebel told the committee on Thursday, April 25, that there is nowhere to take the clothing and shoes. He said North Dakota Recycling & Sanitation was paid well for those items but the prices have continued to drop.

He said the companies that used to purchase the clothing and shoes told him that landfills overseas are getting filled with American clothes and they don't want them. He said those companies used to purchase the items, sort them and ship them overseas where they could be sold in thrift stores.

"If you can't sell them, they end up in the landfill," he said.

Friebel said it is getting too expensive to ship the recycled glass because of the weight. He said it's easier to make glass out of sand rather than trying to recycle it. Friebel said his business ships about 22 tons of glass a year.

"More and more communities are discontinuing taking glass," Friebel said.

He said it costs $800 to ship the glass to Minneapolis but his business only gets $600 in return. He also said the difference doesn't account for labor to sort and crush the glass.

Councilman David Schloegel said he has no problem discontinuing the collection of clothes and shoes but is hesitant to discontinue the collection of glass.

Mayor Dwaine Heinrich said he's aware that recycling glass makes no economic sense. He said the city of Jamestown's contract with North Dakota Recycling & Sanitation might need to be modified if the collection of glass, clothing and shoes is discontinued.

Shawn O'Neill, sanitation foreman, said it wouldn't create an issue if the glass was taken to the landfill. He said it is better if the glass is crushed before it goes into the landfill.

Councilman David Steele said city staff can work with O'Neill and Friebel and figure out where to take the glass.

The Public Works Committee unanimously recommended approval of an engineering agreement with Interstate Engineering for the sanitary sewer force main improvement and relocation project at McElroy Park.

Darrell Hournbuckle, senior project engineer with Interstate Engineering, said the existing force main lift station at McElroy Park would be relocated. He said about 800 to 900 feet of force main pipeline would be rerouted.

He said the new construction for the McElroy Park field renovations would impact that force main.

Steele said the relocation of the force main is needed in case future repairs are needed. If a repair is needed in its current location, it would require digging up the turf in the new baseball facility. He said that would make the repair "very expensive.'

Assistant City Attorney Abbagail Geroux said the contract for engineering services is on an hourly basis.

The agreement says the estimated cost of the engineering services is about $30,000 but "can only be approximated as the work requires unknown effort."

The Jamestown Police and Fire Committee unanimously recommended approval of a quote from Hillerud Construction Inc. for a kitchen remodel at the Jamestown Fire Department's main station.

The quote from Hillerud Construction was about $87,000.

Fire Chief Jim Reuther said a bid tabulation was sent to four contractors and the only bid received was from Hillerud Construction.

He said the project will bring the kitchen up to code.

He also said he put appliances in the budget for 2025 in case it exceeds the $95,000 budgeted for the remodeling project.