David pushes for changes in county solid waste operation

Grady County Commissioner T.D. David asked his fellow commissioners to be prepared to discuss improvements to the way the county handles solid waste.
David said Tuesday night that citizens continue to issue complaints to him regarding the condition of the county dumpster sites.
“We’ve batted this around so much, it’s time to do something. Let’s come back at our next meeting and attack this somehow,” Commissioner David said.
He admitted that he did not have the answers and said that the other board members likely did not either or the issue would be resolved.
“There may not be a clear answer,” David added.
The District 5 commissioner said the county should also look into recycling. “I’m sorry to say recycling works everywhere, but here,” David said.
“There are several ways to skin this cat,” he added.
Commission Vice Chairman Ray Prince said the board had sought assistance from Grady County Sheriff Harry Young to combat the litter problem.
According to David, only one citation was issued by the sheriff’s office in 2014 for dumpster diving and none in 2015 or 2016.
“There are two areas Stanley said are our biggest problem and that is people putting furniture, mattresses and tires out at the dumpster sites and for the lack of a better term they are dumpster diving,” David said.
He said it is not just an issue of an eyesore, but a safety issue, as well.
Vice Chairman Prince said practically as soon as county crews clean up a site, it is right back in the same situation.
“No matter what system you have people will abuse it,” Prince said.
Chairman Elwyn Childs also reminded David that the county had an officer to specifically patrol dump sites and the officer made cases against offenders, but the judges, according to Childs, would not prosecute the cases.
“It’s a big problem. I don’t mind listening to what you come up with,” Chairman Childs said.
With the board’s blessing, David is planning to research alternatives used in other jurisdictions and bring back data for the board to consider.
“It’s getting rough y’all and I’m getting too darn many complaints. We’ve got to do something,” David said.