Billings officials will start work with contractors and engineers to map out the needed repairs to the new drop-off facility at the Billings Regional Landfill after a fire earlier this year damaged the building.
Council approved a work order Monday night that “is intended to evaluate and establish a limit of repairs, create a scope of work, coordinate with the city’s insurer for compliance and acceptance, and complete repair work to get the facility back into operation as soon as possible.”
Billings Public Works director Debi Meling explained the process used by her department that allows contractors and engineers to work together simultaneously to create the estimates and repairs.
The fire at the drop-off facility erupted in late January in the northwest section of the building where it did the most damage. Flames damaged the metal siding on the building, parts of the roof and elements of the facility’s HVAC system.
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Landfill crews had been running a large shredder, grinding down a pile of furniture when the fire started. Bulky items like furniture are broken up and shredded before being placed in the landfill as way to efficiently utilize space.
While the landfill is still open to the public, the drop-off facility has been closed since the fire.
The drop-off facility opened just over a year ago as part of a $20 million project to improve solid waste management at the landfill and, specific to the drop-off building, to reduce much of the wind-blown garbage that’s long plagued the site.
The idea for an enclosed drop-off center was hatched in 2017 and included the 60,000 square-foot drop-off facility, a 10,000 square-foot maintenance building and new scales. Construction began in 2019 and was finished early last year.
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