Unified Disposal District Buys More Land

The Unified Disposal landfill is a topic that has raised the hackles of numerous people over the last few years. There are those that recall being told 30 years ago when we funded the new dump that “we would never- ever have to worry about garbage again in our lifetimes because the then new landfill had a “100 year +++” life span. Then there are those upset 2 ½ years ago when they learned that the district had purchased the land just south of Havre before they held any hearings to receive public comment until after the fact. It so happened that the “100 +++” year dump was full and needed upgrades. Back in August of 2011 the Corrector reported that there were some issues with the disposal district permits that were keeping the landfill from opening. Finally after several years everything came together and the Unified trucks started rolling out to the new landfill.

The Corrector has learned that the Unified Disposal District has purchased an additional 160 acres adjacent to the landfill as part of a settlement with the American Wind and Wheat farms that had filed suit over the road running through their land. The district is leasing the land back to the seller to keep the land in production but also allow Unified Disposal employees access to the land to clean up blowing garbage. Apparently the fence around the area does not keep all the blowing garbage confined like they claimed it would way back when. Additionally the old landfill is in the process of being closed although the taxpayers of the district are ultimately on the hook to monitor and correct any issues for the next 30 years. Fencing will be removed and used as needed around some of the local transfer sites. We could not find out what the plans are for the old shop building at the previous site.

We could not get anyone to divulge the price paid for the 160 acres just purchased but considering they paid $1,500 per acre numerous years ago for a coulee that was grazing land we can only assume that 160 acres of premium productive crop land made our old taxpayer wallet pucker up a bit. Why is it so hard for our local tax spenders to just be upfront and honest about what they are doing?