The Park County landfill in Powell will be back in full swing soon. The county engineering department hired a contracting firm to replace the foundation under existing scales with an entirely new cement bed to withstand the weight of vehicles — ranging from cars and pickups to big-rig trucks.

A heavy crane was brought into the county landfill site to lift the scales off the old foundation and place them on the new one. Two Sisters Contracting LLC, which operates out of Cody, won the bid to complete the project. JMS Crane & Rigging of Billings was subcontracted to lift the existing scales and place them on the new foundation at the landfill, located on Road 5 southeast of Powell.

“The project was to abandon the old scale because it had a defect in the foundation under a weight load cell,” explained Sandie Morris, assistant landfill manager for Park County. “The new one’s gonna be there for future generations — like the Egyptians.”

On a Friday morning, under light snow flurries, workers from Two Sisters and JMS loosened the existing scales on the damaged platform and prepared for the giant crane to lift them out.

“They’re going to pick the deck up off the old foundation and set it on the new foundation and load cells,” Morris said, explaining load cells electronically measure the weight of vehicles with and without garbage to determine fees.

Before the day was over, the scales were expected to be lifted onto the new concrete platform, designed and poured by Two Sisters Contracting, which won the bid for completion of the project. (Morris said the bid was approximately $126,000 — “rough estimate.”)

After state inspectors discovered flaws in the concrete beneath the existing scale station, it was shut down. The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) determined the county landfill in Powell could not function adequately until the scale station was replaced.

“The state DEQ shut this landfill down for municipal solid waste,” said Morris. “All that means is wet garbage.”

The county continues to accept dry trash at the Powell landfill, she said, noting the county’s engineering department acted quickly to replace the scale station so it would not be out of action for a long period of time.

“The only thing we can’t accept is food waste,” Morris said, prefacing county residents can still bring food waste to the landfill in large garbage bags, which are hauled off to another landfill in Park County that accepts food waste.

Morris said the Powell-based county landfill receives a significant amount of garbage from local residents.

“In the summertime we get about 60 cars a day,” she said. “Normally, they drive up on the scale — it’s all done by weight.”

When the scale station is operable, landfill staff weigh each vehicle, before and after garbage is dumped, and charge accordingly. The scale can handle up to 100,000 pounds, within the range of commercial contractors that use the county landfill, Morris said.

“We can take whatever is legal to drive across the road,” she said.

Jim Flowers, an inspector with Engineering Associates in Powell, has watched the project daily since it began in March 2022.

“I watch the circus,” Flowers said, as JMS crane operator Jeremy Reiker positioned the giant rig into place. “I say that a lot because I see people going around in circles when they can stop and talk.”

Flowers quickly pointed out this was not the case with JMS or Two Sisters, which he noted are both highly professional firms.

“These guys know what they’re doing,” Flowers said. “I think the county’s getting what they asked for.”

It’s Flowers’ job to make sure the job is done correctly.

“I send a daily report to our project manager,” the inspector said. “And then Ted [Smith, of Engineering Associates] sends that to the county engineer.”

Flowers said the job is expected to be completed by May 25.

“Tuesday or Wednesday, we’ll be back in business,” the inspector said.