Published: October 10, 2008 11:33 am            

Commission says: Trash plan will clean county

PRINCETON — The Mercer County Commission is poised to give property owners official reason to pick up around their homes and businesses.

The Commission recently announced the drafting of a litter control ordinance outlining penalties for motorists who toss trash from their vehicles, allow stockpiles of garbage to accumulate outside their homes and keep a jungle of junked cars on the lawn.

All of those things could soon carry penalties of $50—$500, if the Commission approves the ordinance Prosecuting Attorney Timm Boggess drafted at the panel’s request and at the push from a group known as the Make Mercer Shine Committee.

“This really started about three years ago. Mike Swatts was the chairman-elect of the Chamber board at the time, and he brought this up,” Princeton-Mercer County Chamber of Commerce President Robert Farley said. “We met with the County Commission. About that time was when the City of Princeton and the City of Bluefield had started their clean-ups big.”

It took a while for the proposed ordinance to happen, but the County Commission recently unveiled the proposal that targets litter and unsightly, potentially unsafe ,collections of litter in various ways.

The ordinance:

• Prohibits the operation of any vehicle on any highway if the vehicle is not “constructed or loaded to prevent any of its load from dropping, sifting, leaking or otherwise escaping therefrom.”

• Holds proprietors and business operators responsible for keeping their property and adjacent area clear of litter.

• Forbids residents and homeowners to allow the collection of garbage around their homes.

• Makes keeping or storing junked vehicles outside a garage or enclosed area illegal.

• Requires owners, agents or contractors in charge of a construction or development site to furnish litter receptacles and to “collect, contain and prevent scattering litter on a daily basis.”

• Bans roadside dumping along any street, road or right-of-way.

The proposal also outlines penalties for violations. The vehicle owner of a moving litter violation, if convicted, could be fine $50-$1,000. All other violations call for first-time penalties of $50-$500, fines that were dramatically reduced in the final draft of the ordinance, according to County Commission President Joe Coburn.

Coburn said the Commission heard from people on both sides of the ordinance as it was drafted, and he emphasized the panel carefully considered all points of view and concerns.

“We wanted to hear from people for and against it,” he said during a recent Make Mercer Shine meeting. “We gave everybody an equal hearing. We lowered some of the penalties that were ridiculous, and I think we’ve been very fair about it.”

Lyle Huntington, who was instrumental in creating the proposal, said he was proud of the outcome.

“Is it going to be 100 percent? I don’t think so, but it’s going to be a lot better than it is now,” he said.

Mercer County Convention & Visitors Bureau’s Melanie Farmer moderated several of the Make Mercer Shine meetings and said the Commission had acted responsibly to help Mercer County clean house and put its best foot forward.

“When you have visitors in the area, you always want to make your area look its best. That’s the standpoint that we take it from,” she said. “We want our visitors to have a good image of our area, and it also inspires pride in our residents.”

Although some citizens have expressed concerns that the county shouldn’t interfere with private property, Farmer and Huntington emphasized the goal of the ordinance is to prompt property owners to police themselves.

“We would just like to encourage everyone to take responsibility for their own property, as well as the places that belong to all of us throughout the community,” she said.

Farley agreed that the ordinance could have a very positive impact on economic development.

“The first look a person has of an area is of primary importance. If they get a very good, positive sight, I think they’re more easily swayed to move into the area, either with a business or as a resident,” he said.

Along with applauding the work of the County Commission, Huntington and Donnie Lucas, the man named as the ordinance officer, Farley credited Recycle West Virginia with much of the clean-up movement.

“This Recycle West Virginia, they’re cleaning up these hollows like they’ve never been cleaned up before because it’s profitable to sell the scrap metal now, and there’s a local place they can do that,” he said.

The Mercer County Commission is set to conduct the first reading on the proposed ordinance during its meeting at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the County Commission office at the Mercer County Courthouse. Wellman and Farmer encouraged citizens who support the measure to turn out as much as those who might oppose it.

“If we, who are in favor, stay home and do nothing, it may appear there are more in opposition,” she cautioned.

— Contact Tammie Toler at ttoler@ptonline.net.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.