The sight of litter strewn across Fannin County has prompted several residents to take up the fight against the trash through the county’s Adopt-A-Road Program.
“It’s really nice to know that people are really doing this,” Chief Land Development Officer Marie Woody said during a Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday, February 23.
According to Woody, there are around 40 program participants at this time.
The county recently updated the program and hopes to see more residents adopt a portion of the county and keep the amount of trash down.
Any civic organization, non-profit organization or individual may participate in the program, and businesses are encouraged to participate as a group.
All adopting organizations will have to sign an Adopt-A-Road agreement, and the Board of Commissioners Office will have final approval of all assigned routes.
Each adopter must adopt a minimum of one mile and pick up litter at least once quarter, or four times per year.
Participants must be at least 18 years of age and refrain from advertising any product, address or telephone numbers.
The county’s Public Works Department will provide signs with the organization or individual’s name and garbage bags to be used on the section of the road adopted. Public Works will need to be notified of litter pick-ups at least three days prior, and they will remove the pick-up within 48 hours of notification. All garbage will need to be placed in the ditch line a safe distance from the edge of the road, preferably only on one side of the road.
Those interested in adopting a section of Fannin County to keep clean can fill out the application, shown to the right of this story, and return it to the Commissioner’s Office on the first floor of the Fannin County Courthouse.
Chairman Jamie Hensley also explained that while the prison detail the county had previously picking up trash is unable to do so at this time due to COVID-19, Fannin County probationers have been picking up several bags of trash in various locations across the county every weekend.
“The first Saturday they went out, they picked up a dumpster full,” Hensley said. “If I’m not mistaken, I think the first day he brought half a dozen (probationers) out. There may be more depending on the time frame, the weather and things like that, but I still think they’ve picked up every weekend rain or shine. I’m at least thankful to get back on board with some of that.”
Post One Commissioner Earl Johnson expressed a need for more enforcement of county ordinances pertaining to trash haulers because he’s seen several haulers either not appropriately securing their vehicles or not picking up their trash that has fallen into roadways.
“Just my opinion, from what I’ve been seeing the past year or so, until we crack down on these haulers … it’s not going to get any better,” Johnson said. “It’s at least half of our problem, because when you see these heavy bags of garbage, that didn’t blow out of a truck or a casual ‘forget it sitting on the trunk of a car.’”
While Woody has sent letters to registered haulers in the county, she is currently unable to issue citations because state regulations have changed to now require that all citations be issued by a state mandated officer and she is a code enforcement officer. However, the board discussed finding someone who could work for the county and issue citations, which will hopefully result in more haulers properly securing their vehicles and a decrease in trash across the county.
“We can’t stop people from littering, but I think we can go a long way with our haulers,” Johnson said. “One or two of those tickets (a fine of $410 to $1,000), and they’re not going to be caught on any of our county roads without a tarp on their load.”