A public works crew was busy Friday morning clearing an illegal dumpsite at a remote spot on Pickensville Road as part of the city’s ongoing efforts to keep Columbus beautiful.
While the city is responsible for hauling away vegetative debris such as tree limbs and yard waste, it is not tasked with hauling trash away. Public Works Director Casey Bush said the property owner is responsible for lugging away junk to the dump.
“We are trying to keep Columbus clean. And to do that, we all need to come together and help out,” he said.
The city’s crew hauled away several busted televisions, trash, rotting particle board and an outdoor cooler with wheels that was filled with preserves including one jar of very pickled okra from the Pickensville Road illegal dumpsite.
“We find all kinds of stuff and it never ceases to amaze me what we do find that’s not supposed to be out on the side of the street,” Bush said.
Though there have been no citations issued as yet, Bush said, the time has come to enforce the law by issuing citations to litterbugs who unlawfully dump trash. Citizens can contact the city’s Action Center at 662-329-5147 and/or file a report online.
“I urge the citizens of Columbus that if you see someone doing any illegal dumping, whether it is by your house or on the roadway, feel free to give a call or even get a license tag number to the city,” he said. “If we don’t see it and if we don’t get information about who is doing this illegal dumping, there is no way we can be able to enforce these rules. That’s why I urge the citizens of Columbus, anyone, that if you see illegal dumping and something that is not supposed to be on the side of the road, please call so we can help.”
City Chief Operations Officer Mark Alexander Jr. said the City Hall has worked out an arrangement with Waste Pro USA to allow citizens to dump items such as old mattresses and televisions during business hours between 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at the commercial and residential solid waste and recycling collection company’s facility located on 701 Sixth Street South.
Trash build-up
Bush said the problems with trash removal began after a tornado struck Columbus in February of 2019 when people began putting big trash items on the curbside for public works to haul away after the city received an exemption from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to perform this task under those circumstances. He said in the aftermath of the tornado, it was important to clear away rubbish from the ruins.
“Then, they were putting out tires, televisions and anything that was in their backyards including household garbage,” Bush said. “That was all being picked up just to get the community back up to where they were before we started picking up those items.”
Two years later, long after things returned to normal after the tornado, Bush said, citizens have become accustomed to having their junk hauled away by the city. He said last week, more than 130 trash hotspots had been tagged for removal throughout the city.
“We’re at the point now where public works is supposed to stop what we are doing toward picking up all the unwanted items that go to the landfill,” Bush said. “Right now, those items are still being put on the streets and if they are not being put on the street, we are finding them in illegal dump spots.”
Bush said the city is no longer responsible for removing rubbish, so public works crews have fallen behind on hauling away organic debris. He said crews have been playing catch-up for a long time.
“It’s beginning to be overbearing that this illegal stuff is being thrown everywhere all over the city,” he said.
Bush also blames trash build-up on public works’ staffing shortage he says is not only caused by the economic climate that de-incentivizes work due to COVID-19 relief from the free-flow of unemployment benefits, but the pay disparity between the city which pays new crew members $10.30 per hour and the county which pays $14.60 per hour.
“We are down a few workers. With the economy the way it is right now, that might have something to do with it. And we are losing guys to the pay scale because they want to try and find better pay — so yes, we have been down for the past couple of years with trying to keep employees.”
Bush said equipment failures contribute to delays in removing rubbish from the streets. The city has three boom trucks, two of which are mostly dependable and another which needs repairs more often than not, he said.
“If the equipment goes down, if it is down for a week, especially with the boom trucks, that puts us tremendously behind,” he said. “When the boom trucks go down, that’s one of the pieces of equipment that do the bulk of the stuff. Once one of them goes down, it takes a toll.”
Working together for a good cause
If anyone wants to volunteer, that person can contact Mayor Keith Gaskin’s office at 662-328-7021.
“We can always use help, especially with citizens who do want to volunteer. And that’s a nice to volunteer for — to keep the city clean,” Bush said.
While at the illegal dump site on Pickensville Road, Alexander assisted the work crew by loading a large television with a busted screen onto the back of the public works truck. City Public Information Officer Joe Dillon and The Dispatch gathered trash to be hauled away.
Alexander praised public works crew members such as Kevin Edmond and Tyrone Eddins who have been busy more than eight hours a day, five days a week. Temperatures Friday were in the mid 80s with high humidity.
“They have been going a week on these junk dumps and got most of them cleaned up,” he said.
Dripping with sweat from the hard work loading the truck at Pickensville Road, both Eddins and Edmond answered, “yep” and nodded their heads as Eddins said, “We’re going to get the job done.”
Alexander added, “They got most of it done already. Now we just got to get people to quit putting out this trash.”
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