Finance Committee - 02/05/2020 Page 7
Mayor Donchess
Yes. So sometimes the garden plots are on City land but sometimes not like over at Citizen’s Bank it is on
private property owned by the bank. But they raise money and get grants and the like to help pay for this at
their end. The City then provides land or maybe helps out with some labor.
Alderman O’Brien
Mr. Mayor if | may too? Alderman Lu, while | was kidding with Mr. Caggiano in discussing this, the Fire
Department had a bucket truck that no longer met their standards, yet we transferred it down to Park & Rec.
So repurposing vehicles that are still good, if they go up, the State has, just for your information, like White
Farm where they have an auction and we really get nothing in the way from these vehicles. | mean we do get
something but you know they go off and people buy them on the cheap and stuff like that and they have a
second life. So committing something like this, in my opinion, to something that is as worthwhile as this group,
as with the bucket truck, probably saved you some extra work and makes sense to the tax payers to try to find
a second life for some of these vehicles.
Mayor Donchess
So thinking about what he is contributing to the City on the other side, taking what did we say 60,000 pounds
so far, so that’s 30 tons. So we estimate the landfill space is worth $85.00 a ton maybe a little bit more. So 30
tons is you know $2,4000.00 or around there of landfill soace that has not been used. As a result of this truck,
if he could do 200,000 pounds, now we are talking about 1,000 tons aren’t’ we, which would be more like
$8,000.00 a year just in a year. So he is saving the City in the long term through the preservation of landfill
space by taking this material out of the waste stream.
Alderwoman Kelly
A couple of things, | actually wanted to reply to what you said. | think we can quantify it but | also think that we
need to look at the bigger pictures. One of the things that we have put out as a City is we want to be
greenhouse gas free by 2050 and this is one of the — as much as composting doesn’t seem like it is a way for
us to that way, it actually is because not only are we saving space in the landfill but we are also saving waste
that would otherwise be burned, so there’s that portion of it.
You were asking about how the program works and | know I’m a little bit behind, but it is $25.00 a month and
every dollar is reinvested back into the things that he does for the City. So | think that that’s really helpful as
well. And one of the things that he talked about that | thought was interested and one of the things we are
going around about, is that as a municipality composting can create problems because people don’t know how
to do it properly or it’s hard for them; or those types of things. So the way that he runs it, it’s really simple; like
if you have a bucket and top, you put your stuff in a bucket they take it away and they bring you a clean bucket.
Mayor Donchess
And you get soil at the end of the year.
Alderwoman Kelly
And you get soil, if you like soil, that real rich soil. So | think those are a couple of notes that we had at the
community meeting that | think are worthy of bringing forward.
Mayor Donchess
Any other thoughts or questions?
