Marion will take over commercial cardboard recycling

The city of Marion will apply for a state grant to help pay for commercial cardboard recycling.

At Tuesday’s regular meeting, Marion City Council talked about terminating the city’s contract with GDS for the handling of its cardboard recycling, effective June 30. By ending its contract with GDS, the city will take over the operation. The move is expected to save the city an estimated $25,000 to $30,000 per year, said City Manager Bob Boyette.

But in order to start accepting commercial cardboard, the city will have to purchase new containers to replace the ones used by GDS. The city will apply for a 2012 Community Waste Reduction and Recycling grant from the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources. If awarded, the grant will provide the city with $23,760 to purchase 36 metal containers to accept commercial cardboard recycling. The city will have to match the grant with $4,752.

“The city will have to get Dumpsters one way or another,” said Boyette.

Council voted unanimously to apply for the grant.

In a related matter, city officials talked about how they will handle the commercial cardboard recycling in partnership with McDowell County. The proposed method would be for city workers to collect the commercial cardboard from the containers, take it to the county’s transfer station and split the revenue from the recycling with the county on a 50-50 basis.

Council agreed to work with the county’s Department of Public Works in handling the commercial cardboard recycling.

In other business, the Marion City Council:

-- Met with Don Price, who will be the new superintendent of the city’s water treatment plant. Price is replacing Superintendent Steve Miller, who is retiring. Price previously worked with the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources and also operated water and sewer treatment plants.

-- Approved the closing of North Main Street between Court and Fort streets on Saturday, May 19. The street will be closed for ERA Mountain View Properties’ Community Appreciation Day.

-- Approved the use of the Joseph McDowell Historical Catawba Greenway for an Earth Day event on Saturday, April 21. Keep McDowell Beautiful will use the grassy section of the greenway for the Earth Day celebration.

-- Approved a request by Jake Asta for an amendment to the license to operate a place of amusement at Vortex, which is located at 80 Maple Leaf Drive. The amendment approved by council will allow Asta to add four pool tables at his business.

-- Accepted the N.C. Parks and Recreation Trust Fund grant for the second phase of the greenway. Last month, Gov. Bev Perdue announced the awarding of $1.2 million in grants from the N.C. Parks and Recreation Trust Fund to seven local governments for parks and recreation projects. One of these grants is $238,000 for the city of Marion. That amount represents half of the projected cost of the greenway’s next phase. This section of the greenway will run approximately 3,000 linear feet. It will start at the point where the current greenway ends and continue along the Catawba River. The greenway will also run underneath the U.S. 221 bypass bridge and end at the McDowell House.

-- Approved having the N.C. Department of Transportation prepare a separate study about the transportation need and road projects for Marion. In the past, the DOT would prepare studies about road projects for all of McDowell County. Now, the DOT is offering to put together a separate study focusing on just Marion.