BLOMKEST -- Kandiyohi County residents who have been shuffling old TVs and computer monitors from the basement to the garage because they didn't want to pay the $15 disposal fee can now gloat.
Starting today, the Kandiyohi County landfill will accept those items for free.
Jeff Bredberg, the county's director of environmental services, said the county had been charging a $15 fee to help cover costs of a recycling contractor.
The cathode ray tubes in those electronic devices contain lead.
Bredberg told the Kandiyohi County Board of Commissioners during their meeting Tuesday in Blomkest that because of the changing market for salvaged metals, a new contractor is now paying the county 2 cents a pound for the items.
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As a result, he recommended the county suspend the fee, effective today.
The commissioners unanimously agreed.
"It should keep them out of the ditches," Commissioner Dennis Peterson said. "I get one by my mailbox once in a while."
If the market changes again and the county is forced to pay a contractor to take the items, the commissioners said the fee may have to be reinstated.
In other action, Spicer Mayor Perry Wohnoutka asked the commissioners to reconsider their current public works policy on cost-sharing for installing and maintaining the storm sewer system on a one-mile stretch of County Road 10 east of Spicer. A $3.6 million project on the road is scheduled this summer. The county is participating financially in the project.
Gary Danielson, county public works director, said the county will cover about 50 percent of the cost, but current policy requires the city to pay for storm water components.
Wohnoutka said additional state aid could be available if the county changed its policy, which would lessen the city's financial burden of protecting the water quality of Green Lake.
The commissioners agreed to discuss the policy at a later meeting.
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County Attorney Boyd Beccue said the county came out on top in a recent jury trial with a landowner over the price of land condemned for a road project.
Court-appointed appraisers had set the price of land at $87,000, which the landowner appealed.
Beccue said the jury awarded the landowner $79,863.
Another landowner is also taking the county to court. That jury trial is set for May 20.
The land involves property where County Road 5 is being extended through Willmar's Industrial Park.
