11.2 SR 07-07-2025The Elk River Vision
A welcoming community with revolutionary and spirited resourcefulness, exceptional service, and community
engagement that encourages and inspires prosperity
Request for Action
To
City Council
Item Number
11.2
Meeting Date
July 7, 2025
Prepared By
Justin Femrite, Public Works Director/Chief Engineer
Item Description
Yard Waste Transfer Facility
Reviewed by
Justin Femrite
Cal Portner
Tina Allard
Action Requested
Consider Direction for Future of Yard Waste Transfer Site.
Background/Discussion
Over the past couple of months, we have participated in preliminary discussions with Sherburne County and
the other city yard waste transfer site owners in the county about continued and future uses at these sites.
There is interest within the group to add further restrictions to the sites and add a requirement that all
material be ground and hauled to a site in Becker at a higher cost to our site management. All sites continue
to struggle with contaminated loads, material that is not accepted, and volume increases.
Attached are the notes from our last meeting at Sherburne County and the rules we have found from other
yard waste transfer sites around the northwest metro.
Financial Impact
None associated with this discussion.
Mission/Policy/Goal
Responsible for every dollar – good stewards
Attachments
1. Summary of YW Sites 6-16-25 Mtg
2. Example Yard Waste Site Rules
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Summary of 6/16/2025 Municipal Yard Waste Site Meeting
Cities of Elk River, Zimmerman, Big Lake, and Becker
Attendees:
Keith Koehler (City of Zimmerman), Norman Michels (City of Big Lake), Chris Teff (City of Elk River),
Justin Femrite (City of Elk River), Chris Lisson (City of Becker), Cory Buettgen (City of Becker), Dave
Lucas (Sherburne County), Maureen Mossak (Sherburne County), and Jillian Carlson (Sherburne
County)
Discussions on Commercial Material Received:
It was discussed that the County’s policy is to reduce its dependence on indiscriminate landfilling
of waste. Vonco II Waste Campus in Becker is now accepting source separated organics for its
composting operation and needs carbon material. It was discussed since the County currently
provides for SCORE grant dollars to subsidize the operations at municipal yard waste sites, that the
current Sherburne County Agreement on SCORE Grant Funding requires all carbon material from
the yard waste sites to be made available for the source separated organics composting
operations. It was also discussed that Sherburne County has initiated an organics collection
program and since Vonco II operates a source separated organics compost facility, that the
collected materials must now be transported to Vonco II for their composting operation.
It was discussed that with the County’s growing population and a rise in tree related diseases,
including Emerald Ash Borer, Oak Wilt, Etc. the municipal yard waste sites have seen an increase in
the amount of commercial wood waste entering the sites with approximately 30-60% of yard
waste/wood waste coming from commercial businesses depending on the site.
Over the years the County has seen an increase in costs associated with managing tree and yard
waste. This program was set up for the residents of the County and not for subsidizing commercial
yard waste or tree waste received. The County is mandated by the State to match SCORE funds by
25%, however, the County has been matching SCORE funds at 75% to try to keep all of our
programs available to the public.
Possible Solutions Discussed:
The group discussed having a hard reset on all yard waste access cards starting January 1st, 2026.
Residents would be required to contact the City Halls to reactivate the card. Residents who bring in
their existing card for reactivation would not be charged a fee. The cities also discussed the
possibility of establishing a fee for a new card, possibly in the amount of $10.00. The reset process
will assist in identifying and removing cards that are no longer in use by current residential property
owners.
The group discussed no longer allowing commercial use of these sites possibly starting January 1st,
2026. Each yard waste site representative was asked to take this back to their City Council for
discussion.
If any municipalities wish to keep accepting commercial yard waste at their sites for a fee, then
commercial and residential yard waste must be collected and kept separate as the County would
only reimburse wood grinding costs for residential yard waste.
Page 274 of 309
Page 2 of 2
Any changes for the sites would be advertised to the public by each Municipality and the County
well in advance of the start date.
Next meeting:
The County will set up the next meeting for an in-depth discussion on commercial use possibly the
second week in August.
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