Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Third time's the charm as far as Solid Waste Department Director Beth Letchworth is concerned, when it comes to the sticker program that she's about to introduce at the county's 12 solid waste and collection sites.
After pitching the idea to county officials twice before over the years, Letchworth finally got the Jefferson County Commission to green light the project on Thursday evening, May 7.
The idea, as Letchworth explained it to the commission, is to issue customized stickers to all county residents so that they can affix them to their vehicles' windshields for easy identification. That way, she said, when motorists enter the sites to dispose of their garbage, the solid waste department personnel monitoring the the manned sites – or cameras at the unmanned sites – will be able to identify the stickers and know if the driver is a bona-fide county resident.
Those caught dumping without the required stickers will be asked to leave the premises if at a manned site, or they will be sent a warning letter subsequently if caught on video at the unmanned sites. Nonresidents who persist in dumping illegally at the sites after receiving a warning will be issued citations.
The problem that she was trying to combat, Letchworth said, was the dumping of garbage at the various collection sites by nonresidents.
“We are encountering people from outside the area on a daily basis,” Letchworth said, noting that during a six-week period, the attendees at the Lloyd site had turned away at least 16 people who were out-of-county residents.
“It's a big problem,” she said.
Letchworth told the Monticello News more recently that her department was in the process of designing the sticker for the program. Once designed, she said, the plan was to have the stickers printed and begin issuing them, likely in the coming weeks.
The idea, Letchworth said, was to start with a pilot program at the Lloyd site and then expand it to the other sites. She said that individuals arriving at the Lloyd site, for example, would be asked to show their driver's license and vehicle registration to prove their county residency.
Once individuals satisfied this requirement, they would be issued a sticker, she said. As for those who lived in rentals, they would additionally be asked to produce a tax bill showing that they had paid the landfill assessment, she said.
“We won't just hand out the stickers,” Letchworth said.
She said that if individuals preferred, they could also come to the Solid Waste Department office on U.S. 19 and Waukeenah Street and get the sticker by producing the required information.
“If someone has land here but not a structure, that's not a resident,” Letchworth said.
County Coordinator Parrish Barwick reminded the commissioners that the illegal dumping of garbage and trash at the county's solid waste and collection sites by out-of-county residents was a longstanding and costly problem.
“Our residents are paying 20 percent or more for the garbage of residents from the surrounding areas,” Barwick said.
He has estimated in the past that trash from other counties' residents could well account for 30 to 35 percent of the tonnage that the solid waste department is currently hauling to the regional landfill for disposal. Which at $42 per ton for disposal was costing this county's residents inordinately, Barwick said.
On the related recycling program, Letchworth said she didn't know when it would restart.
“It's out of my hand,” Letchworth said, adding that as long as the Jefferson Correctional Institution (JCI) kept its inmates sequestered because of the coronavirus outbreak, the program would remain on hold.
The Solid Waste Department depends on JCI inmate crews to sort and separate the recyclables.
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