By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
When a job is for 28-hours a week, what does that mean?
It is, of course, part time but it also means that the grass clippings disposal site in Nephi could be manned for six days a week—full time on Saturdays—and three hours a day on weekdays.
Nephi City council discussed the operating plans for opening the grass clippings disposal site, including hours of operation and other considerations at their last meeting.
"We have advertised for a site manager," said Randy McKnight, city administrator. "We have received the support of JRDA (Juab Rural Development Agency) to provide for a seasonal part time employee."
The facility should open soon, he said. However, prior to that, the council needed to adopt opening hours and days for the grass clipping facility to be open.
Signs with the rules listed on them needed to be placed in position, he said.
He said the site could be open from April 15 to October 15.
"We have looked at the hours and wanted the site to be open during the evening daylight hours during the week," he said.
The site should not be open during the dark hours of the night so the hours of daylight during the spring and fall had been considered.
"Saturdays always see considerable use so the site could be open on that day from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.," he said. "We would have the same closing hours each day so it would be less confusing for those using the site."
Nathan Memmott, council member, said he liked the proposed hours but wondered if 8 p.m. might be too late in the evening for the site to be open.
"The sun will be down but there will still be good visibility," said McKnight.
Memmott said that, when the council first discussed opening the grass clippings site, the council had suggested that a garbage can be placed at the site for those who brought their clippings in a plastic bag, The bag could be opened and emptied by the patrons of the facility. They could then put the plastic bags in the garbage container. In the past, those plastic bags have been a problem because they contaminate the mulch which results from the decay of the grass clippings.
"We also mentioned that it would be nice for those who run yard businesses to be able to buy a key to unlock the gate so that they could dump their grass clippings there any time of the day during daylight hours," said Memmott.
McKnight said that he was anticipating that both of those suggestions would be in place. However, he was thinking that the garbage can/box be placed well inside the confines of the grass clippings site so that it could be accessed by those who wanted to drop off drive-by refuse.
"The staff's current thinking is that one person would have a hard time covering all these hours for the entire season and that we should split the hours between two seasonal employees," said McKnight. "One could work three evenings per week and a few hours on Saturday. The other could work two evenings per week and a majority of the Saturday hours."
That way, there would be flexibility when one wanted time off, and the other employee could cover for that person. Also, one person would not have to be there through a whole day Saturday, every week of the season.
"We only received two applications for this position. Those candidates can be discussed in executive session," said McKnight.
"Do we need to do something to provide some shade for our site manager?" asked Memmott.
McKnight said that there did need to be a shelter of some sort. Although flies may be as much of a challenge as the hot sun on summer days.
They had wondered about using some sort of mesh to protect the manager from flies.
Don Ball, resident, said that he thought the shelter provided for the manager should also provide protection from the monsoons of July.
"There are a few things we may learn as we go," he said.
Larry Ostler, council member, asked if the site could be accessed by a backhoe.
McKnight said that it could be.
Mayor Mark Jones said that residents of the city using the site needed to remember that abuse of the facility caused it to be closed the first time and that could happen again.
"Violations may cause it to be closed again," said Jones.
