Expanded hours proposed for yard site

It’s been an ongoing issue: making the Glencoe yard waste site, also known as the elm site, more available to city residents. And the Glencoe City Council will be considering expanding those hours at its Monday, June 19, meeting. The city’s personnel and legislative committee is recommending a revision to the hours to the City Council. The committee is made up of three of five council members, so it is likely the proposal will pass.
It is not surprising that there has been a demand for more hours. It’s hard to fit in trips to the site between kids’ activities, work shifts, weather events and the general busyness of life. Not to mention, we’ve become a society accustomed to having what we need at our fingertips 24-7, 365 days a year.
There has been a reason why there have been limited hours at the Glencoe yard waste site, as there have been at similar sites in other communities — people have used them as general garbage dumps for their unwanted material. That’s why fences have been built, hours shortened, security cameras installed, and site monitors hired.
People need to be mindful that the intent of the yard waste sites is for exactly that — yard waste. And that includes grass, leaves, branches, and similar items. Not appliances, old bicycles, or any other junk people want to get a rid of.
In order to extend the hours, the city is considering having the site opened during certain hours, unmonitored, with occasional checks throughout the day by city staff. It is not an unprecedented concept; the city currently opens the site, unattended, after major storm events and for fall and spring cleanups.
The proposed hours for the site seem to provide a ripe opportunity for abuse. On the other hand, it also is a ripe opportunity for people to prove that they can rise above that and work under the “honor system.”
Those who have asked for expanded hours will very like get them after Monday’s City Council meeting. Let’s cooperate and make sure it’s a workable plan, otherwise, the site will be reverting back to limited, monitored hours and citizens will once again feel inconvenienced.