Wednesday brought “all hands on deck” for trash pickup at the Allen County Landfill.
Workers across several county departments — the airport, noxious weeds, road and bridge — joined landfill crews to pick up trash that had blown into neighboring properties during recent windstorms.
The activity came at the request of Commission Chairman David Lee, but provoked a rebuke from a fellow commissioner for pulling crews from other county responsibilities while rejecting a possible solution.
“I’ve had phone call after phone call about all the trash,” Lee told Public Works Director Mitch Garner at Tuesday’s commission meeting.
Garner said landfill employees pick up the litter as best they can. Garner said he sometimes asks for help from the road and bridge department but those workers have been busy with road repairs.
Lee asked him to get more crews involved, which prompted Commissioner Jerry Daniels to speak up.
“Let’s back up here. Mitch brought us a solution and it was a costly one and we went right into talking about picking up trash,” Daniels said.
“Do you not agree that trash needs to be picked up?” Lee said.
“I do, but we’re shooting down every solution he’s bringing to us. I say keep looking for solutions. … I guess we can put pothole patching and everything to the side and pick up trash.”
Minutes earlier, commissioners Lee and Bruce Symes said they didn’t like a $1 million estimate to buy 45-foot poles and netting, similar to the kind of system used by businesses like Top Golf and other landfills.
Garner proposed the netting system, which could be raised and lowered to collect trash.
He said he could continue to seek more competitive bids and look into less expensive options. Symes essentially told him not to waste the time, as he would vote no.
Daniels pointed out Garner had saved $6 million to build a new trash collection cell at the landfill at an ultimate cost of $2.3 million.
“The funds are there,” Daniels said.
THE CURRENT trash mound has about reached its limit with a new cell still a year out from opening.
