The Inter-Mountain was invited Tuesday by Kesecker to view the new six-door, two-unit Sanitation Garage on Baxter Street, behind the Pepsi Bottling Group facility. The city’s Sanitation Department has been operating out of the new space going on three weeks now, Kesecker said.

“We’re still getting moved in,” Sanitation Department Supervisor Tim Harper told The Inter-Mountain.

The garage is not only spacious enough to easily hold the Sanitation Department’s trucks, but also the city’s trash cans and dumpsters, with plenty of room to spare. Kesecker said the building’s size and spaciousness gives the department room to grow.

“So, what we did when we built this, we built it a little bigger than what we needed, but we built it so we could grow into it,” Kesecker said. “Cause what you don’t want to do, you don’t want to have a project and you build it and in three years you’re like, ‘Aw, we should have done this. I wish we had this room.’ Then you’re adding onto it. So we were like, let’s get this done the way we want to do it, and we’ll grow into it as time passes.”

The City of Elkins’ new six-door, two-unit Sanitation Garage on Baxter Street was first put to use this month.

Kesecker said the Sanitation Department had operated out of a rented building at a cost of $1,800 a month since 2005, equating to possibly $400,000 tied up in rent for a building they knew they “were never going to own.”

“As a municipality, it’s nice to own your office space,” Kesecker said.

Kesecker and Harper noted that the Sanitation Department will be officially out of their old space this Friday.

Kesecker explained that, during the process of designing the garage, the transfer station they used raised their rates on the Sanitation Department. However, Kesecker said, Sanitation Department customers have not seen a penny of their rates go up because of this, or because of the garage.

“So, not only have our rates been raised, and not only did we build this garage, we have yet to pass that on to the consumer,” Kesecker said. “We have been able to be self-sufficient in the aspect that they have not seen a penny of this reflected on their rates, and we’re really proud of that, because that tells the citizens that we’re trying to be good stewards of our financials… and we watch our spending.”

Kesecker also said the city did not have to finance 100% of the garage, as some of the money came out of the Sanitation Department’s already existing budget.

While the structure is up and operational, there is still work to be done on the front of the building. Kesecker said that, by spring, officials plan to have the gravel in the front flattened, black-topped and landscaped for parking spaces that will lead to a front reception area. The Sanitation Department plans to have an employee working at the front desk, helping with scheduling and receiving comments.

The Elkins city seal will be added to the front of the building. There will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony at some point for the building, Kesecker said.

“Our goal is that this is kind of the footprint and kind of the design of new buildings that we build,” he noted. “We want it to kind of look like this.”

Equipped with office spaces, a laundry utility room and a break room for workers, Kesecker explained that the Sanitation Department’s hardworking team deserve to have spaces for themselves in the new building, citing how some of the workers have had to take their lunches next to the trash trucks in the old location.

“We’ve got 10 guys in this department, I think they all really like it,” Kesecker said. “I think they’re all very pleased with a place to call home.”