Green Box committee assembled

The future of the Bigfork Green Box site could depend on the efforts of Bigfork residents Karin Henion, Bruce Solberg, Bob Keenan and Paul Mutascio.

The four will work with County Public Works Director Dave Prunty and County Solid Waste Operations Manager James Chilton on how to either keep the Bigfork Green Box site open or find an alternative solution to the current proposal to close the site entirely.

Last month, the Flathead County Solid Waste Board voted to delay a decision on closing the Bigfork Green Box site for six months to allow local residents time to formulate an alternative plan for garbage collection. In a separate action, the board voted to create a group of four Bigfork area residents and two Solid Waste District staffers to work together and report back to the board in six months.

This six-month period could be extended if necessary as the committee addresses concerns such as the location’s traffic safety and size.

Mutascio has spent the last few months working with Prunty and others to find a solution to the Green Box site, and he brings decades of experience with city management to the table.

Mutascio said the 2009 study only looked at ways to reduce the county’s direct solid waste operating costs without looking at the broader financial, economic, safety and environmental issues and recycling needs. According to Mutascio, the study focused on the urban sections of the county and not the rural sections, including unincorporated villages such as Bigfork, which make up the other 65 percent.

Mutascio said it could be possible to adjust the angles of the green boxes at the Bigfork site to make it more accommodating to larger vehicles.

“All the problems listed with the Bigfork site can be overcome,” Mutascio said.

Keenan is bringing 12 years of government experience to the table as a former legislator and president of the Montana State Senate. He has been working with current state Rep. Scott Reichner, R-Bigfork, to find out who has the authority to make the final decision regarding the site’s closure: the county commissioners or the solid waste board.

“That doesn’t make sense to me, and I mentioned that to Paul (Mutascio) and he asked me to serve and I said sure,” Keenan said.

Solberg will be on the committee to represent Bigfork’s businesses and residents as president of the local chamber of commerce.

“I would just like to assure out community that thorough research is done and all venues are explored prior to just arbitrarily having the county make the decision to close the boxes,” Solberg said.

Henion, a member of the Bigfork Rotary Club and senior vice-president of Flathead Bank, spoke with Mutascio about the site following his visit to the Rotary Club earlier this winter. She said volunteering and getting active with local projects is important for unincorporated villages like Bigfork to function.

“I just think if you care about your community that you should be involved,” Henion said. “Since we are not a city, there are only citizens to get involved, there is no council or elected officials. We have to do our own thing. If the citizens are not involved it’s not going to get done.”

Comments or suggestions can be discussed with Henion at 837-1600 or sent to Solberg at chamber@bigfork.org or discussed in person with Keenan at his restaurant, the Bigfork Inn.

The time and nature of the committee meetings is yet to be determined, but so far the goal is to have them be open to the public with equal input from each member.