County Updated on Landfill Issues

The Cheyenne County Commissioners met with Sidney City Manager Ed Sadler Monday to discuss maintaining efficient trash pickup and processing.

The meeting was scheduled to approve an addendum to the Sidney Area Solid Waste Interlocal Agreement.

Sadler said the City of Sidney needs to upgrade equipment at the solid waste landfill site. He said the baler is 24 years old, the manufacturer is no longer in business and the mechanic who maintained the machine has retired. The Sidney City Council reviewed options in a recent council work session. Sadler said the city council decided to pursue a baler and a compactor. He said they cost about $750,000 each.

Sadler also discussed the varieties of trash trucks.

“Right now it takes three different kinds of trucks to do our trash pick-up,” he said. “That doesn’t seem very efficient to me.”

The reason Sidney needs three different trash trucks is the variety of receptacles.

“Eventually, we plan to sort that out also,” he said.

Sadler said to expect a rate increase, and that the City did not receive a grant for updates at the landfill. Cheyenne County contributes half of the Keno proceeds to the Solid Waste facility. Sadler said the City plans to finance the purchases with a $1.5 million bond. He said each of the proposed purchases cost about the same so there is no way of purchasing one at a lower price to save money. He said it is the City’s intention to bond the purchases through Cheyenne County.

The commissioners also met with Wildlife Specialist Matt Anderson regarding his annual report. Anderson said he recorded 237 hours on Cheyenne County projects, not including travel time. One of the wildlife challenges of the county is prairie dogs. He said there are already difficulties with prairie dog populations in the area. Anderson bluntly said without a plague, prairie dogs are difficult to control.

He did say there is one landowner who is unwilling to let officials treat prairie dog towns on his land.

According to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the black-tailed prairie dog is a stocky, burrowing rodent that is a member of the squirrel family. The black-tailed prairie dog is the only prairie dog species native to Nebraska and they inhabit the western two-thirds of the state.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln says surveys indicate prairie dogs have occupied 30,000 to 80,000 acres of Nebraska rangeland in the past three decades; most of land is privately-owned. UNL says from a rancher’s perspective, prairie dogs can severely reduce annual production of forage and if prairie dogs are present for many years can reduce the capacity of the land to produce desired grass species.

Ranchers also report loss of animals due to broken legs after stepping into a prairie dog hole.

According to the National Park Service US. Department of the Interior, prairie dogs are susceptible to a number of diseases, including sylvatic plague. Sylvatic plague is a bacterial disease trasmitted by fleas that can affect numerous species including humans. The Scotts Bluff office of the National Park Service says it is rare for a person to come down with the plague.