$7,000.00 for 16 Dumpsters

Buffalo Doesn't Need

Dumpsters, garbage & trash were again the topic at the Wednesday, January 21, 2009 Town Board Meeting as Town Manager, Joe McVicker, asked the Board to approve the purchase of more dumpsters. The request was NOT for the poly-carts, the residential type seen all over town. These are the large steel ones which can be found at businesses and some residential locations, and he’s asking for 16 more 3 yard dumpsters. He advised the Board that at the present time: “we’re robbing Peter to pay Paul” when someone needs a dumpster. An example was given where someone passes away and the family needs a dumpster to clean out the house. The workers are shuffling them around because they don’t have many extra ones.

Joe was asked by a Board Member if there was a real need for these dumpsters, asking “are we short any… do we have businesses that don’t have them…? Joe’s reply was “No”.

Another Board Trustee asked if there was going to be a problem storing them and Joe responded, “no, we stored 140 of ‘em all over our yard.

He was then asked if there was a need for 16, a real need for 16 more dumpsters. The response was that “the time is now” because Laverne, Oklahoma, a neighboring Town, is ordering dumpsters and Buffalo can piggy back on their order, as there is room on the shipment and 16 dumpsters is the total needed to fill the truck. Joe said, “We don’t need 16 dumpsters now, but we don’t need 100 poly carts sittin’ in there either, but we got ‘em.” Listen to what you just said Joe. The Town has 100 poly carts, which you just acknowledged Buffalo doesn’t need, sitting in the garage. Now you want to bring in 16 – 3 yard dumpsters, which you acknowledge we don’t need, so they can just be sitting there? What kind of logic is that? Who was the party responsible for ordering an extra 100 poly carts the Town doesn’t need? What’s an extra 100 poly carts when $14,000.00 in fines have been levied against the Town of Buffalo by the D.E.Q.? What’s an extra 16 dumpsters sitting in the yard at a cost of $6,996.00 when Buffalo’s had $14,000.00 worth of fines levied? There’s argument that much of the fines have been waived as Buffalo completes their D.E.Q. consent orders. Regardless, the fines were levied.

The 3 yard dumpsters are $406.00 each. There are shipping fees and drop fees so the total the Board had to decide on spending was $6,996.00.



Buffalo’s mayor inquired as to how many we could get by with right now and the manager responded: “we could probably get by with four or five.” That’s when the audience brought up some past issues about dumpsters.

One audience member reminded the Board that there weren’t supposed to be dumpsters in residential areas, but there are. Another spoke of how there are businesses in Town not requiring or wanting a 3 yard dumpster but they are required to have one. Evidently, the audience member is a liar as the Town Manager responded: “we don’t require ‘em to have a 3 yard dumpster.”

Here’s a huge problem!

The Town Board hosted a public meeting at the Fairgrounds about the trash and dumpster issue long ago. At that meeting the Board promised to abide by the people’s wishes. The attendees were adamant about NOT having DUMPSTERS in residential neighborhoods. The Board, once again, promised the residents of Buffalo that dumpsters would not be placed in residential areas. “It won’t happen” is was what one Trustee stated. But it did and it continues. The Town manager has authorized placement of 3 yard steel dumpsters on residential property in residential areas of Buffalo breaking the promises made to the over 50 people in attendance who chose to speak up and voice their concerns.

It’s politics! Forget about what the people want, the politician gets what he/she wants. Is there any wonder there’s a clamor about?

One Board member, Mrs. Harper, spoke up to remind the people and the Board what it was that they had promised the citizens. More discussion ensued as the audience let their feelings be known. It appeared the board had had enough when Trustee, Alan Bishop interrupted the audience and immediately made a motion to purchase the 16, 3 yard dumpsters and pay the near $7,000.00. Chance Brown seconded the motion. Trustee Susan Harper voted against the motion as Town manager, Joe McVicker, had already acknowledged there was no need for dumpsters, that Buffalo wasn’t short any and they could get away with fewer dumpsters.
If the Board abides by the wishes of the community, there is no need for any 3 yard dumpsters in residential neighborhoods.

Is there going to be more commercial enterprise in Buffalo necessitating spending $7,000.00 now? On the reverse of that, there are businesses in the town of Buffalo, OK downsizing and returning dumpsters. Inside Buffalo knows of a specific happenstance where a dumpster was returned because the business had one dumpster too many. Inside Buffalo also knows of businesses in Town with a dumpster now, wanting a poly cart instead of a dumpster, in spite of what the Town Manager said this evening.

The discussion of dumpsters was already addressed months ago. Those speaking up at the Town Board Meeting were obviously not at the public meeting regarding the trash and dumpster issue. The Mayor voiced her take on the matter and said ”I wish more of you had shown up” at the public meeting reminding the attendees that this was already discussed and the majority of people at that public meeting had made it very clear they did not want dumpsters in residential neighborhoods unless there was an alley.

There was no further control over the public comments, and the discussion which ensued seemed to take on a way of its own, while attendees ignored the topic on the agenda and up for discussion. The agenda item was for purchase of dumpsters, not for discussion of dumpster placement, garbage and trash problems or whether a single resident wants a dumpster on his/her property.

Trustee Harper intervened, commenting that there were conditions present, in this economic recession, here in Buffalo, where these funds need to be earmarked for those conditions needing immediate attention. Buffalo can ill-afford spending $7,000.00 when no one knows how much it is going to cost to repair the waste water facility and other things in town now receiving inattention. A lot of shuffling of dumpsters can be accomplished for $7,000.00.

Mrs. Harper seems to be the only Board member concerned about the large amount of spending going on when there are so many infrastructure problems in Buffalo.
The motion passed with the Mayor, Ms. Buss, voting to accept the motion and purchase 16 new 3 yard dumpsters to be stored in the yard.

Editor’s Note: There was much discussion at this meeting about the dumpsters placed all around town for FREE. No one’s paying for these dumpsters to be emptied except us taxpayers. There are “public” dumpsters at the park, behind the theatre, and in other strategic locations around the Town of Buffalo. Many were complaining about the trash spewing out of these dumpsters unattended. Couldn’t the Town of Buffalo remove these “public” dumpsters, choosing to store them in the yard and forego spending another $7,000.00? That would give the Town an extra 4 or 5 dumpsters, just what they need! That’s what the manager said, we only need 4 or 5 and he said it twice during the meeting.