By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Staff at the Barton County Landfill use a variety of equipment to keep the facility operating smoothly. Tuesday morning, the Barton County Commission made the job a little easier by approving the purchase of a Bob-Tach Backhoe attachment for a 2021 Bobcat T770 skid steer loader. Solid Waste Director Jennifer Hamby explained the need.
"This attachment would be very beneficial to the landfill for digging trenches, ditches for stormwater control, cleaning our leachate ponds, and sand removal for the MSW (Municipal Solid Waste) section tie-ins," she said.
Last year, Hamby had to pay approximately $3,000 to rent the same equipment for a week for the MSW tie-in work. There were compatibility issues with finding the equipment, but Hamby found two priced comparably.
"Every new phase they build they split up into three sections so we'll have to do this twice every new phase," she said. "It would pay for itself easily."
The county agreed to purchase the equipment from Bobcat of Salina for $6,535.