By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The big cleanup in Great Bend is over. The top vote getter in the "quality of life" vote ran from Sept. 24 through Oct. 2. Great Bend City Administrator Kendal Francis said Monday that final numbers are not in, and final costs will depend on reports from Stone Sand and Anspaugh regarding the use of the construction-sized dumpsters, as well as reports from Acme Iron and Scrap and the Barton County Landfill regarding tonnage of materials turned in.
"I haven't seen a final report but I know I'm going to be shocked with tires because on about day three or four, I did get a report and we were already at about 14 tons worth of tires," Francis said. "I think the tires number is going to be a pretty large number."
Francis said traffic through the dumpsters at Sunflower Diversified Services was consistent throughout the week. Saturday, Sept. 24 opened the event and was the only day the city planned to provide volunteers to help pick up items. Francis said calls continued to come in after Saturday, and city staff and Francis himself picked up as many items as they could.
"People didn't realize the volunteer portion was only the one day," he said. "That might be something we need to look at, at least next year if we choose to do it again. How can we either better advertise that we were only doing it one day, or how can we maybe provide more than one day of volunteer service."
City staff did remain at the dump site during business hours Monday through Friday to help citizens unload items. "That was a necessity," Francis said. "The dumpsters are pretty tall and some people just aren't physically able to get stuff up that high. There was a cost associated with that but it was absolutely worth it."
The city originally planned to spend between $15,000 and $25,000 on the cleanup. The final reports will help determine a final cost of the project, and also the future of it.
"This was a trial year for sure," said Francis. "I think once we get final numbers and a cost associated, then that will help us make a determination next year whether or not this is something we want to move forward with."