GAYLORD — There will soon be a second site to collect debris from the March ice storm and this one will be located closer to Gaylord.
Ever since the March 28-30 storm toppled trees and caused other damage in Otsego County, Ryan Philipp of Pineco has operated a collection site at 10600 Old 27 North near Vanderbilt where folks could take branches and tree vegetation for disposal at no charge.
Now, Wolverine Power Cooperative has made available a part of the old Georgia Pacific plant site on Milbocker Road for Philipp and his crew to collect storm debris. Homeowners and small lawn maintenance companies will be able to discard storm debris at no charge from sunup to sunset seven days a week, similar to Pineco’s operation near Vanderbilt.
“By July we hope to be able to take Sundays off,” said Philipp.
Philipp expects to have the Milbocker site operating by Saturday, May 17.
“Anything that fell as a result of the storm will be collected,” Philipp said.
Material that will not be accepted includes bags of leaves and grass clippings and items such as discarded furniture, appliances or tires.
At Tuesday’s Otsego County Board of commissioners meeting, county administrator Matt Barresi said what made the new site possible was the involvement of the Otsego Community Foundation (OCF) and the United Way of Otsego County. The OCF provided $50,000 from its storm recovery fund.
“They provided the security that Wolverine was looking for. It took the county out of the contract. We became a coordinator but not a signer of the contract,” said Barresi. “Both Pineco and Wolverine have been fantastic partners. We just wanted to put securities in place to protect everybody.”
For more information on both collection sites, call Pineco at (989) 370-2612.
Meanwhile at Tuesday’s meeting, county board chairman Brett McVannel announced who will serve on a committee to find a replacement for Barresi, who intends to step away from the administrator’s post by July.
In addition to himself, McVannel said Gaylord City Manager Kim Awrey, Otsego County Sheriff Matthew Nowicki, Otsego County Human Resources Director Betty Westenbarger and county commissioners Terra Deming, Christi Sortor and Dana Wingo will serve on the panel.
He hopes the committee can start meeting as soon as this week to begin the search.
— Contact Paul Welitzkin at pwelitzkin@gaylordheraldtimes.com.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Milbocker Road site in Gaylord to accept debris from March ice storm
Reporting by Paul Welitzkin, The Petoskey News-Review / The Petoskey News-Review
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