KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
There was a lot of trash talk at Thursday night’s Kodiak Island Borough Assembly meeting. Two new faces were added to the Solid Waste Advisory Board, and Threshold has a new contract to provide recycling services to the borough. Jay Barrett has more.
The two new faces on the Solid Waste Advisory Board are familiar faces in Kodiak. Cindy Harrington and Laurie Murdock were appointed by Mayor Jerome Selby to the pair of openings, which were confirmed by the assembly.
Harrington, who was appointed to an individual seat on the board, works in her family’s commercial fishing operation and until recently was a program director at the University of Alaska. She says her interest in the SWAB came from her involvement with Sustainable Kodiak. Her term on the SWAB will expire at the end of 2010.
Murdock was appointed to a seat reserved for a private business, and will expire at the end of 2009. She and her husband own Alpha Appliance Repair, that sells refurbished home appliances, which she described as a form of recycling. Murdock currently works as the executive assistant for Assemblywoman Pat Branson at Senior Citizens of Kodiak.
The contract with Threshold Services will be for about 115-thousand dollars, but is only for six months, as explained by Engineering and Facilities Director Woody Koning:
— (Trash 1 44 sec “… increase in tonnage that is diverted from the landfill.”)
Threshold Executive Director Rick Pillans quantified for the assembly the increase in recycling in Kodiak:
— (Trash 2 31 sec “… people are reaching out and are accepting it.”)
The assembly members universally praised Threshold, not only for recycling, but its hiring of those with what Pillans described as “employment-barring disabilities.” Assemblywoman Branson:
— (Trash 3 18 sec “… both of those things is a real selling point.”)
With the Bell and Associates draft solid waste plan calling for increased recycling, Assemblyman Tom Abell hopes Threshold does not get lost in the shuffle:
— (Trash 4 30 sec “… afford to buy that also.”)
Abell said he’d like to see more recycling, which hopefully would bring with it lower costs:
— (Trash 5 27 sec “… ditch, and they will take it to recycle.”)
The contract with Threshold is retroactive to July 1st, and is good through the end of the year. It pays Threshold 9-thousand dollars per month for the first 30-thousand pounds of material it processes, and 15-cents per pound after that.
I’m Jay Barrett. ###
