Lowndes County now has stricter guidelines on its brush and debris pickup procedure.
Supervisors on Monday passed a policy stating crews who handle those duties will no longer gather large trees, stumps, tires or household garbage. A household will have rubbish pickup services available once a week. The weekly pickup schedule is Monday for Districts 1 and 2 residents, Tuesday for District 3 and either Wednesday or Thursday for Districts 4 and 5.
The new policy initially contained language disallowing rubbish collection on state highways. But that language was stricken. Lowndes County road manager Ronnie Burns now has discretion over safety measures that need to be taken while employees collect rubbish on state and U.S. roads. Any time crews run a route on those roads, there will now be an extra man on the shift to flag traffic as a precaution while other employees collect brush, Burns said.
The state highway pickup procedure was the only stipulation that led to disagreement among supervisors. John Holliman of District 3 and Jeff Smith of District 4 each said they’d received calls from their constituents regarding that matter, with Holliman elaborating that residents on those roads “pay taxes just like anybody else.”
Board President Harry Sanders said the state of Mississippi is responsible for pickup on its highways and not Lowndes County. He later fell in step with the rest of the board after supervisor Leroy Brooks suggested amending the policy directing Burns to utilize any necessary safety measures, but before doing so mentioned the high volume and speed of traffic on U.S. Highway 45 as well as state two-lane highways and the problem it could present.
“I know (residents with state road addresses) pay the county taxes just like everybody else, but those county taxes go for a lot more things than just picking up debris on the road,” Sanders said. “They also pay Mississippi tax. The state of Mississippi is responsible for its state highways, not Lowndes County. It’s a 70 mile-per-hour speed limit there and you’re going to block one lane of traffic with a doggone truck sitting out there picking up debris that shouldn’t be there in the first place. Those property owners are not supposed to go and put debris out on the state highway or on county property. They’re supposed to get rid of that themselves.”
The board’s decision stems from a Nov. 15 meeting, during which Burns said residents, namely contractors for buildings under construction, had regularly placed materials on the side of the road that were not designed for any of the three county rubbish trucks to pick up.
In other business, the board:
Approved a change order for Mississippi Steel Processing road construction at a net decrease of $5,245.60;
Approved a change order for an extension to East Lowndes Water Association at a net increase of $204.46.
Nathan Gregory covers city and county government for The Dispatch.
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