Quincy hires police captain

QUINCY — The Quincy Police have a new captain.

Tuesday night at a regular meeting, the Quincy City Council approved hiring current Grant County Sheriff’s detective Ryan Green to fill the number-two slot in the city’s police department.

“I’m happy to be here and serve the citizens of Quincy,” Green said.

Green, a 43-year-old married father of four who grew up in Grand Coulee, began his law enforcement career with the Ephrata Police in 2001. He has been with the Grant County Sheriff’s Office since 2006, where he most recently served as a major crimes investigator.

“This is an up-and-coming agency,” Green said. “I’ve known the chief (Kieth Siebert) since 2001; he’s a friend and a mentor, and he encouraged me to apply.”

Green said he is excited to bring his experience as a major crimes investigator to the Quincy Police.

“The administration side I’m willing to learn and get trained up on,” he added.

Siebert, who came to Quincy last year after a career with the sheriff’s office, wanted to reinstate the position of police captain in order to improve administration and free the department’s sergeants to run their shifts.

The council also discussed some ongoing problems with the city’s recycling program.

“People are putting things in the recycling stream that don’t belong there,” said city Maintenance Supervisor Dave Reynolds.

Reynolds said that too much garbage is finding its way into recycling, including glass and plastic bags, which “gum up the works.”

“China is not taking more recycling,” Reynolds added. “They need recycling without contaminants.”

China banned the import of plastic and paper recyclables in January, complaining that much of the material had not been cleaned or was contaminated with garbage. Since the ban, plastic and paper have been piling up in the U.S. and Europe.

And cities like Quincy are faced with a problem of how to deal with all the recycling.

“Recycling is almost costing more than sending it to the landfill,” said City Administrator Tim Snead. “We need to start looking at some way to clamp down on garbage going into recycling.”

Snead and Reynolds are encouraging city residents to be more careful and attentive and keep recyclables separate from garbage, especially glass.

The Quincy City Council also voted on Tuesday to put the $3.1 million city hall and library renovation projects out to bid again.

“We’re hoping to open bids within the month,” Snead said. “And we’re hoping to have this done by the end of the year or the first part of next year.”

In late 2016, the city canceled the second portion of its $5.4 million construction contract with Oregon-based Wellness Farwell over concerns that the contractor took too long to finish the police station, missing several significant deadlines in the process.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.