The Washington City Council approved the expansion of yard waste center hours during their recent meeting.

Waste Water Treatment Plant Superintendent Jason Whisler proposed two options on how to expand the yard waste center availability, which was an item that the council motioned this past May to send back to the drawing board after Council Member Steven Gault said Whisler’s proposal “didn’t come close” to what he and the city staff discussed. The first option is to keep a fully supervised site and be open every Saturday from April 1st to November 30th from 7-10 a.m. and from 4-7 p.m. on Wednesdays during the peak six weeks in the spring and fall. The only costs associated would be some overtime for the employees.

Option two would be an unsupervised site that would essentially have 24-hour access, but would require physical adjustments like relocating the main gate for the treatment plant and installing a significant amount of additional fencing at a cost of $27,500. There would also be additional costs of $5,800 with a monthly additional charge for security cameras, and an estimated $5,500 plus $80 a month from Alliant Energy to install light poles. Whisler told the council he doesn’t have a preference between the two options, and the council approved to pilot the fully-supervised first choice, with Whisler to give a report in November on operations.