By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
The final numbers from the city-wide cleanup in Great Bend are in, and
the event was a ton of success…several tons.
At Monday’s Great Bend City Council meeting, City Administrator Kendal Francis
said 51 commercial-sized dumpsters were filled and dumped during the nine-day period.
There were 59.4 tons of municipal solid waste, 75.4 tons of tires and 4.9 tons
of mattresses.
Being the first year Great Bend conducted the cleanup under Francis, the city administrator
estimated the project could cost upwards of $25,000 with dumpster and landfill
fees. Excluding labor from city staff that assisted residents with unloading,
Francis said the expense was $19,809.28.
"It was a little bit less than what I estimated that it might come in at," said Francis. "By all accounts, it went pretty well and it was pretty well received."
The city-wide cleanup was held Sept. 24 - Oct. 2 with dumpsters lined up in Sunflower Diversified Services’ parking lot on west
10th Street.
In a “quality of life” survey, Great Bend residents voted overwhelmingly in
favor of creating a city-wide cleanup. The .15% “quality of life” sales tax
funded the cleanup this year. Going forward, the expense will be split between
the sales tax collections and the Public Works department.