Blaine Ophus is the newest member of the Big Sandy City Council. He took Danielle Weaver's place when she resigned from the council in August. "It was probably a month and a half into taking a seat on the city council that I became a member of the Unified Dump Committee."
Big Sandy is the only town in Chouteau County that is part of the Unified Dump Committee. It is an extension of Hill County but not owned by Hill County. It is important to realize that anyone who has paid the necessary fee to use the dump is allowed to do so. The dump is not just for the residents of the town of Big Sandy. Many people from the prairie, out southeast, and Box Elder have access to it.
Blaine said, "Last month, the guy called the board and let us know we were overflowing with garbage, and people had quit throwing it in the dumpster and had started throwing out the garbage in front of the dumpster. That's not his job to pick up our garbage off the front of the dumpsters. I took my personal backhoe over there and pushed the garbage down into the dumpsters so the guy could set the lids on him. Otherwise, he couldn't go down the road with them because the garbage blows all over. So if people see that the dumpsters are full, it's not a 911. It isn't an emergency to empty your garbage that day. They come three days a week, sometimes four. We've had an influx of more people coming here, which people have complained about, but if they pay, they have the right to use it. You're paying extra if a person has multiple entities in their name or business. And the businesses in town pay extra because they have a business. If you see the bars or the grocery store, they think they're throwing too much; they pay extra for it to get a little extra room."
With the large pile-up of garbage, Blaine called, and he was on his way down. "The guy was very good. It was a holiday weekend, and as an employee who wasn't even supposed to be working that day because it was a holiday. When he came here, he brought two dumpsters, took the three I had packed, and pushed the garbage down into them. He personally got out and helped me fill the garbage into the dumpster. That's not his job. He doesn't have to do that. He just did it. He was very thankful."
It is part of our community, and it does look not good when there's garbage lying in front of the dumpsters when there's no reason we have to dump that day; if they're full, they're full,
"Have a little bit of pride."
"We could raise the rates a lot more and have somebody we pay, somebody in Big Sandy, go over there and pick up your garbage that is around it. The rates will be higher! Enjoy your rates where they're at because they could be much worse. If you live in a different community or other areas, understand you'll pay a lot more. Great Falls pays almost three times as much as we do for garbage, and that's a whole different business. This is a good thing for our community, so just don't take advantage of it. Remember to put your garbage in a sack. Also, if you're having a big construction project where you're going to completely demolish a building, don't fill up the community dumpster. It would be great to have a large dumpster of your own brought down and used for that purpose."
"There will be a small increase in the yearly charge for using the Dump this coming year. It is the cost of living. Everything has just gone up, and everybody knows that. If you go to the grocery store, get fuel or insurance. They needed to raise their prices because the cost of everything was going up. It will only go up approximately by $20 for this year, which is cheap; in the first county I lived in, I paid $30 a month!" He wants all of us to know that what we pay isn't an expensive rate.
