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County public works reports repeated commercial delays at transfer station, considers opening alternative dropbox
Summary
Public works staff described hour‑long waits for some commercial trailers at the county transfer station, blamed single excavator logistics and a Waste Control contractor, and said the county may reopen the Total/Toodle dropbox for commercial use if waits persist.
Cowlitz County Public Services Director Mike Moss said the county is seeing repeated, long waits for commercial trailers at the county transfer station and is weighing operational changes, including reopening the Total (Toodle) transfer dropbox for commercial traffic.
Moss told the Cowlitz County Board of Commissioners that on some days commercial customers waited about an hour to be unloaded outside the morning commercial window, and that one trailer he observed spent a full hour on site. "If you're not there in the great 07:30 to 09:30 window, you are gonna wait additional time," Moss said.
Moss said the delays appear to stem from equipment allocation and contractor logistics. He described a single excavator shifting between the packer end and the south end of the transfer station; when the machine moved north, unloading piled up at the south end. "It looked like they have 1 excavator to clear both ends of the transfer station," he said, and recommended discussing the possibility of adding a second excavator or a smaller machine to keep trailers moving.
Moss identified the contractor as Waste Control and described ongoing discussions with the firm to correct the bottleneck. He also said the county recently evaluated the Total (Toodle) site as an alternate dropbox and could open it weekly or daily to commercial trailers if wait times continue at current levels: "If they continue at the pace of hour plus, we'll have to revisit the opportunity of opening up the Total transfer station Total dropbox, weekly or daily for commercial trailers."
The county did not record a formal decision at the meeting. Moss said staff will monitor wait times for another week or two before proposing any operational change to the board.
The transfer station update also included operational detail and a request that the board allow staff to pursue logistical fixes with Waste Control, including possible additional equipment or site reconfiguration.
