By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Excitement and landfill do not always belong in the same sentence. But at Wednesday's Barton County Commission meeting, Solid Waste Director Jennifer Hamby was excited about the purchase of a new wire guard system for the landfill's Caterpillar Compactor that is currently being rebuilt.
"The system prevents wire and debris from wrapping around the axles," she told commissioners, "which could interfere with the machine's performance and also damage powertrain components."
In November, the county opted to rebuild the 1998 model for half a million dollars because it had been a durable unit. In January, Hamby was notified of the new wire guard system. She said the rebuild would be a perfect time to add the system at the cost of $19,970.96. Waiting until after the machine is put together would be a costly headache.
They would actually have to come out with a crane and take each one of the wheels off," she said. "Each one of the wheels on the compactor weighs 5,000 pounds. It would be a big undertaking and would be a lot more expensive."
Funds for the wire guard system will come out of the landfill's funds, not taxpayer money. Hamby said she and staff appreciated the 4-0 vote to approve the purchase.
"I couldn't type the briefing up fast enough when they sent me the email because we have been waiting for this," she said. "Our guys do the best they can to keep up on the wire and things that get wrapped up, but right now it's a struggle. We only have one compactor, and it's doing double duty. We have to run it at both our sites. To have it down for even half a day to try to clean out wire and stuff, it's a hardship on us."