With the recycling market in the midst of a slump, Rimrock Recycling is looking for financial help.

Becki Cunningham, president of the nonprofit corporation, attended the Burns City Council meeting on Aug. 8 to ask the council for a donation to help keep the operation going.

Cunningham said that once a year, Rimrock has to pay for a truck to come get the materials and take them to market.

“In the past, Rimrock has been a nonprofit that has been able to support itself through the sales of recycling material. This is no longer true,” Cunningham said. “The last several years the market has fallen into China’s policies of tightening security  and cleanliness of the products. In the current crackdown at the first of the year, for example, cardboard went from bringing $300 a ton last year to last month bringing $30.”

She added that because there is nobody to bid against the U.S. paper companies, they are able to pay next to nothing for the materials.

“This month the market is up to $40 a ton, and the last one we sold was $135, so we’re down to zero funds at Rimrock,” Cunningham stated.

With hopes of keeping the doors open, Rimrock has started a donation campaign, and Cunningham asked the council for a $300 donation, or half of the trucking cost. She added that she was also going to ask the Hines Common Council for $300 so the cities would split the cost.

The campaign also includes asking for donations from people who take materials to Rimrock, but getting the truck to transfer the materials now is the main priority.

When asked if the county was helping with funding, Cunningham said that for the past several years the county had donated $10,000 a year, but this year, the county court denied the request.

Councilor Forrest Keady expressed concerns about further depleting the donation fund the city has so early in the fiscal year, adding that the fund is usually used to help out local youth groups and activities.

“What happens if you don’t get the money from Hines and Burns?” Keady asked.

“We may have to close our doors,” Cunningham answered. “It’s that bad. We’re down to zero.”

Cunningham said if the cities do make the donations, Rimrock should be good for another month, and hopefully more donations would be collected in that time frame.

Rimrock has applied for a grant through the Department of Environmental Quality, but that money would be about a year out if they received the grant.

After some discussion, the council agreed to table the matter until the next council meeting on Aug. 22.

“If that’s the best we can do, I hope to still be in business,” Cunningham said.

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During the public comment portion of the meeting, Burns resident Elizabeth Howerton complimented Detective Robby Tiller of the Burns Police Department on his ability to deal with calls involving the elderly, the disabled, and those with a mental illness.

“His mama raised him right,” Howerton said. “He has the ability to just not escalate the situation.”

She said Tiller deserves recognition for the wonderful job from the city and residents, and she wanted to thank him.

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Luke Hemphill told the council he and his wife had recently purchased buildings on North Broadway and were in the process of improving the buildings. He said they had put about $250,000 of their own money into the project, and were now inquiring about funds available from the city for economic development.

“What we’re asking is for a grant of $5,000 in the form of economic development that’s been done in the neighboring city. They granted this money for improvement of the district,” Hemphill said. “And also I’d like to ask for a loan from the LID (Local Improvement District) fund of $75,000 to be paid back to the city over 10 years at .5 percent interest. I just threw that out there because I heard that’s what a loan had been previously  done for.”

Later in the meeting, City Manager Dauna Wensenk stated there was $40,000 in the LID fund, and there were no real parameters set as to how the money was to be used. The council agreed to hold a workshop at 5 p.m. on Aug. 22 to further discuss the LID fund.

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In other business, the council:

• approved the expenditure of $11,530 for repairs to the road grader;

• approved a $150 donation to Harney Partners for Kids and Families for the Red Ribbon Week activities;

• approved a street closure request from the Harney County Veterans Services office to close W. Madison from N. Broadway to N. Alvord on Sept. 15, contingent on a $200 refundable deposit;

• agreed to schedule a training by the League of Oregon Cities (LOC) in either November or December of this year;

• agreed to proceed with the 10 hours of free legal services from the LOC.

The next council meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 22, at city hall.