Driver shortage
Transfer station restricts construction waste
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ATLANTIC MINE -- A shortage of commercial truck drivers at the Houghton County Materials Management department has forced the county transfer station to restrict or reject incoming construction and demolition waste.
The Houghton County Materials Management Station, located on Erickson Drive in Atlantic Mine, requires commercial vehicle operators to haul accumulated refuse to the K&W Landfill in Greenland. Under standard operations, staff drivers must transport two to three trailer loads to the Greenland site daily to maintain processing capacity.
According to Materials Management Facility Manager Jeffrey Palik, the county is currently working to solve the issue through online job recruitment postings. "I'm hoping to have it up and going in a couple of days," Palik said. "We were down a couple of drivers."
Palik stated that for the past two weeks, the facility has been operating with just one driver to handle the daily transport rotation. Employment postings on Indeed.com indicate the county is seeking full-time CDL-A drivers for the transfer station at a starting wage scale of $20.78 to $24.45 per hour.
In contrast, commercial private sector waste management firms operating in the immediate Houghton area are actively recruiting Class A drivers with starting wages ranging from $22 to $31 per hour. The ongoing full-time CDL-A driver shortage at the facility has limited the county’s ability to clear its tipping floor, forcing the enforcement of facility rules on commercial debris.
Under standard Houghton County Materials Management guidelines, construction and demolition waste intake is restricted entirely to a Tuesday-through-Thursday schedule, with a complete ban on all building demolition materials enforced during high-volume periods like the month of May.
The driver shortage has added to these scheduling limits, forcing scale operators to restrict active intake to one pre-approved demolition load at a time. When hauling capacity is overwhelmed due to driver unavailability, incoming trucks carrying construction waste are declined at the gates. Rejected trucks then must independently haul to Greenland.
"We have open positions we haven't been able to fill," Palik said. "As soon as we get fully staffed, we should be in good shape."
A review of public county records further indicates that the Houghton County Materials Management Committee has not published or updated its public meeting minutes since late 2024, leaving an administrative gap in documented oversight regarding the facility’s recent operational and wage policies.
The open county position requires a tractor-trailer Class A CDL with air brakes. The schedule dictates full-time hours varying Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., alongside a mandatory rotating Saturday shift from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.