BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Union County Commissioners, during a December 1 town hall meeting in Lake Butler, discussed copying Bradford County’s trash decal program, which requires a sticker placed in the windshield for vehicles dropping off trash at county solid waste collection sites.
Commissioners floated the idea after Eric Williams of Williams LP Gas said he noticed “a semi load” of trash piled up at one county collection site after Thanksgiving.
County Coordinator Jimmy Williams said part of the blame rested on the county not transporting trash away from collection sites for a few days due to the holiday. Still, he added that another factor is out-of-county residents using Union County trash drop-offs.
The coordinator said he had spoken with Bradford County officials about their decal requirement.
“They issue every homeowner two stickers,” Williams told commissioners. And if you don’t want to put it in a window, they say keep it in your glove box or a card, whatever you want to do. But if you do not have that sticker issued by the county, then you do not dump it. You have to have proof of being a resident.”
Commissioner Donna Jackson said that according to her sources, non-Union residents using the collection sites in Worthington Springs and Providence is common.
She blamed Columbia County residents for crossing Swift Creek and dumping their trash in Union County collection sites.
Jackson said that in addition to vehicle decals, she wants cameras installed at collection sites.
“That way, when that attendant says I can’t let you dump because that camera right there is watching your tag and seeing that you don’t have a sticker, and it’s my job on the line,” Jackson told her colleagues. “That attendant has an out.”
Eric Williams told commissioners that before Bradford implemented its decal requirement, Clay County residents regularly dropped off trash at the Bradford collection site at the intersection of State Road 100 and Southeast County Road 21B, near the Keystone Heights RV Park.
Jimmy Williams added that, according to Bradford officials, that site’s trash volume was cut in half after the county began enforcing the decal requirement.
Commissioner Melissa McNeal said she also had been talking to Bradford officials about their program.
“I talked to one of the administrative assistants over there, and she said for about a year it was a headache,” McNeal relayed. “But now that the year is up, it seems to be clicking.”
Eric Williams said the county could also sell non-Union residents a decal to use Union’s solid waste facilities.
“If some of those folks that want to cross the county line and dump it, well, heck, sell them one,” he said. “Charge them $3,000, $5,000, whatever number you want. If they want that freedom, make them pay. I mean, that’s their problem, not ours, right? Once again, it shouldn’t be on my taxes.”
