11.2 SR 07-07-2025 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Page 1 of 2 Summary of 6/16/2025 Municipal Yard Waste Site Meeting Cities of Elk River, Zimmerman, Big Lake, and Becker Attendees: Keith Koehler (City of Zimmerman), Norman Michels (City of Big Lake), Chris Teff (City of Elk River), Justin Femrite (City of Elk River), Chris Lisson (City of Becker), Cory Buettgen (City of Becker), Dave Lucas (Sherburne County), Maureen Mossak (Sherburne County), and Jillian Carlson (Sherburne County) Discussions on Commercial Material Received: It was discussed that the County’s policy is to reduce its dependence on indiscriminate landfilling of waste. Vonco II Waste Campus in Becker is now accepting source separated organics for its composting operation and needs carbon material. It was discussed since the County currently provides for SCORE grant dollars to subsidize the operations at municipal yard waste sites, that the current Sherburne County Agreement on SCORE Grant Funding requires all carbon material from the yard waste sites to be made available for the source separated organics composting operations. It was also discussed that Sherburne County has initiated an organics collection program and since Vonco II operates a source separated organics compost facility, that the collected materials must now be transported to Vonco II for their composting operation. It was discussed that with the County’s growing population and a rise in tree related diseases, including Emerald Ash Borer, Oak Wilt, Etc. the municipal yard waste sites have seen an increase in the amount of commercial wood waste entering the sites with approximately 30-60% of yard waste/wood waste coming from commercial businesses depending on the site. Over the years the County has seen an increase in costs associated with managing tree and yard waste. This program was set up for the residents of the County and not for subsidizing commercial yard waste or tree waste received. The County is mandated by the State to match SCORE funds by 25%, however, the County has been matching SCORE funds at 75% to try to keep all of our programs available to the public. Possible Solutions Discussed: The group discussed having a hard reset on all yard waste access cards starting January 1st, 2026. Residents would be required to contact the City Halls to reactivate the card. Residents who bring in their existing card for reactivation would not be charged a fee. The cities also discussed the possibility of establishing a fee for a new card, possibly in the amount of $10.00. The reset process will assist in identifying and removing cards that are no longer in use by current residential property owners. The group discussed no longer allowing commercial use of these sites possibly starting January 1st, 2026. Each yard waste site representative was asked to take this back to their City Council for discussion. If any municipalities wish to keep accepting commercial yard waste at their sites for a fee, then commercial and residential yard waste must be collected and kept separate as the County would only reimburse wood grinding costs for residential yard waste. Page 274 of 309