By Josh Margolis
HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – The Hill County Refuse Board held a public meeting on Monday afternoon to discuss issues with a public dump site west of Box Elder.
Around a dozen members of the public were on hand, with all of them saying the site has become a serious safety hazard.
Complaints from residents included claims that people at the site have engaged in recreational shooting and drug dealing at the site, that there is broken glass and needles in the area, and that people are simply leaving trash wherever they feel like.
“There’s needles around, there’s bullet holes in everything, broken glass, people not putting things that need to be hazardously disposed of in the proper receptacles and just throwing them on the ground,” according to Hill County Disaster and Emergency Services Coordinator Amanda Frickel.
This has also created a fire hazard.
“There’s been numerous fires just in the last couple of months there…Just people not putting their garbage in the actual containers that are there. We’re not sure if people are deliberately lighting fires at the dump, in the dump, with the garbage. And around the dump area,” said Frickel.
Potential solutions included shutting down the dump site entirely, putting up a strong fence, adding lighting, and security cameras and patrols.
“I definitely think that if the Board works more closely with the tribal police and there’s a little bit more monitoring there, we would have 3-to-4 different agencies monitoring it a little better, I think, could help. If (the Board) could somehow find a way to get some more cameras or some type of surveillance in their, we can start prosecuting people for arson and littering and shooting and things like that, that could help deter people. Also, raising the dirt back up so people can actually drive to the dump and dump their garbage in the receptacles, would probably be a big help,” says Frickel.
The site is several miles west of Box Elder and is the property of the Hill County Refuse Board. It is surrounded mainly by U.S. Government lands, but shares a portion of its border with private property. It is close to the area where the Chippewa Cree Tribe are taking care of buffalo.
Sites mentioned for a replacement dump site included near Box Elder School or Jitterbugs, but it is unclear if this would solve the problem and could create additional issues.
No action was taken at the meeting.
Although this was a public meeting, this was not included on the Commissioner’s weekly calendar.
Hill County Commissioner and Refuse Board Chair Mark Peterson said he isn’t sure how this happened. County Planner Amy Ferguson said she sent a notice to the Commissioner’s office of the meeting and believes it didn’t end up on the calendar due to a communication issue.
