Cass to pay up to $8,000 to modify garbage dumping chute in new transfer station building

LEECH LAKE TOWNSHIP -- The Cass County Board voted Oct. 1 to pay no more than $8,000 to modify the garbage dumping chute in the new transfer station building to ensure garbage will go into collection semi-trailer trucks and not onto the floor.

Cass commissioners and the architects for the recently completed building north of Pine River are at odds over whether the chute design was drawn correctly.

In the commissioners' view, the chute is too short to ensure garbage will reach the trucks. The architects maintain it was designed correctly.

The building contractor wants $38,000 to modify the chute to meet the board's expectations.

A local contractor will be engaged to make construction adjustments within the limit the board set. The commissioners indicated they expect to mediate additional costs for the additional construction work they believe was caused by a design error.

The building is ready for use except for the controversial chute.

The board authorized Environmental Services Director Paul Fairbanks to pay about a $2,500 county match for a Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance grant to replace five waste oil collection tanks at county waste transfer sites.

Fairbanks said the new tanks will be larger and have improved spill protection.