Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By ZACHARY MARANO
Hurley — Hurley Chief of Police Chris Colassaco asked the city’s Police, Fire and License Committee on Wednesday for approval to bring plans for another spring cleanup to the finance committee at their next meeting on Monday. Colassaco said he wanted to do another spring cleanup because it he thinks it will make the city better in the long run.
“I think it gives us the opportunity to give people a chance to get rid of some stuff that they don’t want and we want them to keep their yards nice and clean,” Colassaco said.
Colassaco said that he talked with people at waste management and while they couldn’t provide an exact cost estimate for a spring cleanup, they said that it costs roughly $480 for each dumpster they bring to the city plus an additional cost based on the weight of the garbage in the dumpsters.
Colassaco said that most communities that have a spring cleanup in the area only need one dumpster and never more than four. Colassaco said that if the city uses two dumpsters and they are each filled with three tons of garbage, it would cost the city about $1,488.
Colassaco added that there are certain items that can’t be dropped off in the dumpsters such as computers and tires. He said he hopes they can schedule another time to properly dispose of these items, because some people will need to get rid of them as well.
The committee approved Colassaco’s request to go to the finance committee. The finance committee’s next meeting is Monday.
Colassaco also asked the committee to allow one of his officers, Max Samardich, to skip the second part of his training based on his good performance in his first year as a full-time officer with the Hurley Police Department and prior experience as a part-time officer for a year and a half.
“He was working part time for about a year and half, working every night shift, every weekend and every holiday you can think of, plus going on call on short notice. It’s a very tough stuff to do for a part-time job,” Colassaco said.
Colassaco said that his contract already allows him to skip the second step of an officer’s training but wanted to discuss it with the committee, so everyone was on the same page. The committee approved of Colassaco’s decision.
Colassaco also said that he was hoping to receive a new vehicle for the department this month, but that it will take another month or so to get the vehicle outfitted and put it on the road. However, he said the older vehicle that is going to be replaced is still working fine despite weather conditions.
