11/17/2005: "SJI Transfer Station Closed By Town"

At the Request of Director Jon Shannon, the town of Friday Harbor has inspected the transfer station located on Town property, and found it to be unsafe due to structural damage.

According to Town Administrator King Fitch, some of the main corner support posts of the building have been repeated struck over the years in the process of using the building to receive garbage.

In addition to the damaged posts, there are a number of areas where the metal siding has come loose and is hanging off of the walls, and the bearing posts have clearly been impacted by exposure to strikes by trucks and equipment. The seriousness of the disrepair was made apparent when a contractor refused to work on the building due to its condition. When asked if the lack of maintenance and repairs was the result of a lack of money for Public Works, County Auditor Si Stephens said that Public Works "just spent 1.8 million on buying new property, so they don't have any money now to build a new building, let alone for day-to-day maintenance and repairs".

According to King Fitch, the building was designed and constructed by the County and the land is leased from the Town. King said he had received a call from Shannon, and was told that Public Works would tear down the building, but that solid waste service would not be stopped. John Manning, Public Health Director, told the Guardian that PW will use tarps to cover the open 40' long haul trailers to keep rain water from entering the trailers as they sit waiting to be filled, and this will satisfy code requirements.

Because the tarps will have to removed when the trailers are filled, and then covered again when not being filled, the public is being asked to help by bringing large loads, as opposed to a number of small loads.