County pursues new Laclede dump site

By Lyndsie Kiebert
Reader Staff

Bonner County Board of Commissioners gave the unanimous go-ahead July 28 for Solid Waste personnel to pursue a new waste collection site in Laclede. 

The board approved a contract with James A. Sewell & Associates to complete a legal description and minor land division in order to establish land costs.

This comes after more than a year of searching for a new location along Highway 2 west of Sandpoint to replace the unmanned waste collection site on Wrenco Loop. When county officials recommended closure of the site in June 2019 — characterizing the location as an unkempt “nuisance” — citizens who regularly dumped their household waste there came out in force. Many voiced concerns that they weren’t given adequate warning that the site would be closed, and pointed out that since the 2016 closure of a previous Laclede waste collection site, options for dumping on the west side of the county were limited.

County officials ultimately chose to leave the site open until another nearby location could be created.

Solid Waste Director Bob Howard told the Sandpoint Reader that the new Laclede dump site would be “staffed, paved and fenced,” and that if the county successfully secures the land, the Wrenco site would be closed.