The Hjelvik family knows quite a bit about coming through in the clutch.
The longtime south county residents and the owners of the Yelvik General Store are being praised for rescuing recycling in …
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The Hjelvik family knows quite a bit about coming through in the clutch.
The longtime south county residents and the owners of the Yelvik General Store are being praised for rescuing recycling in Brinnon.
Jefferson County Public Works was preparing to close down the recycling collection site at the Dosewallips State Park campground in Brinnon Feb. 1.
The county has had a site at the park for more than 15 years, said Solid Waste Manager Al Cairns.
But Public Works Director Monte Reinders said the site had to shut down due to improvements planned the campground at Dosewallips State Park.
The existing campsites at the park, on U.S. Highway 101 in Brinnon, are being moved this year.
“We were given ample notification that the improvements they wanted to make at the Dosewallips campground just wouldn’t allow for the recycling bins, so we started looking for another appropriate site,” Reinders said.
Finding a new site posed problems, however. There was the challenge of finding enough space for the six recycling bins — which are roughly 5 feet tall, and 7 by 14 feet across — as well as lighting, security and safety issues to consider.
Public works officials said it seemed inevitable that Brinnon residents would have to travel to the Quilcene Drop Box facility for no-fee recycling.
But then the Hjelvik family came to the rescue.
“I started to field calls from the Brinnon community concerned about the loss of service soon after we posted notice”, Cairns recalled.
“One of those calls was from the Hjelvik family who suggested that they might have a solution. We met at the Yelvik General Store and it was agreed to relocate the recycling bins there on a trial basis.”
The Yelvik General Store is just north of the village center on Highway 101.
“There’s really no loss of service by them stepping up like this,” Cairns said of the Hjelvik family. It’s just terrific.”
The existing campsites at the state park are being moved due to ongoing flooding issues from the Dosewallips River. The campground project includes the construction of a dozen new campsites and a comfort station.
Work will also include the installation of new utilities for the comfort station and the relocation of existing utilities.
Nordvind Company, based in Enumclaw, will be paid $960,959 to complete the project.
