An equipment operator moved loads of brush from the Marshall city tree and leaf dump site over to a burn pit. Marshall city staff said the dump site has seen a significant increase in use, now that the emerald ash borer is present in the area.

MARSHALL — The city of Marshall’s dump site for trees and leaves has started seeing a lot more use, Marshall Public Works Director Jason Anderson said. It’s gotten to the point where managing the piles of trees, branches and other material takes a lot of staff and equipment time.

In response to the situation, the Marshall City Council approved a proposal to charge a $1,500 annual fee for commercial tree removal operators to use the dump site.

“City staff has been discussing this for probably a couple years at least,” Anderson said. “Because commercial operators are bringing the large portion of the material to the site, it would make sense to have a permit fee for their use.”

Previously, there was no cost to use the site, city staff said.

Anderson presented the proposal to council members Tuesday evening.

“The city tree and leaf dump site has seen considerable expansion and use with the emerald ash borer,” he said. “To manage the site, our street department does spend quite a bit of time on the site with a staff person and a front-end loader to move materials, burn piles, do all the work that needs to be done out there.”

Materials in the council agenda packet for Tuesday said city staff estimated they were spending 10 hours or more a week moving material at the dump site. Based on city fee schedule rates, managing the site had a cost of over $93,000 a year.

On May 13, the council’s Ways and Means Committee voted to recommend the implementation of a $1,500 annual fee for commercial operators. The committee also recommended placing a sign saying that only Marshall residents and permitted users can use the dump site.

“We do have cameras out there now, but we’ll take a look at that and see if there’s something we can do to improve that,” Anderson said.

City staff gathered information from other Minnesota cities about whether they operated tree/grass dump sites, as well as information about those sites’ hours and rules. Some cities, including Albert Lea, Fairmont, North Mankato, Northfield and Owatonna said their sites were for city residents only. However, responses varied as to whether cities charged fees for use of the dump sites, or if they checked to see who was using the sites.

Marshall City Administrator Sharon Hanson said within Lyon County, the city of Cottonwood has a private tree dump site, and the city of Tracy operates a tree dump site open to trees from within the county.

“I will caution there’s not a lot of cost information in there,” Anderson said. Hanson added that cities might also differ in whether they accepted large tree sections at their dump sites, as opposed to just tree branches and yard waste.

“I think the other point is that, unlike most of the other cities that were in the survey and most other cities we’re familiar with, this (Marshall) one is open. It doesn’t have closed hours,” Marshall Mayor Bob Byrnes said. “That’s a convenience, and hopefully we can continue that.”

“How much of this is coming in from the county?” asked council member James Lozinski. Not all area communities have their own tree dumps, he said.

Anderson said the city didn’t really have a way to quantify where materials dumped at the tree dump are coming from. But, he said it was “very evident” trees were coming in from other communities besides Marshall.

“We are going to have a difficult time enforcing a lot of it, except for just going back to the statement that most of the tree dump waste is coming from commercial operators, because they are doing the bulk of the tree removal,” Anderson said.

“I know that our public works director has had some communication with some of our haulers, and they are understanding of the proposed fee,” Hanson said.

Council member Craig Schafer said the fee for commercial operators to use the tree dump was “a very good first step” toward managing the site.

Council members voted to approve the $1,500 annual fee for commercial operators to use the city tree and leaf dump site.