Stephens Co. To Pursue Reinstatement of Litter Pickup Crew

Stephens County Commissioners will look to re-instate an inmate work crew to pick up litter off of the county’s roads at the start of January 2015.

However, it remains unclear as to whether it will be county or state inmates doing the work.

Tuesday, Stephens County Commissioners discussed the re-instatement of the state inmate litter pick-up crew.

County commissioners cut the crew from the Fiscal Year 2015 budget as a cost-saving measure.

Last month, Stephens County Commissioner Stanley London proposed re-instating the crew, but his motion was tabled until Tuesday.

“I still feel like it is a valuable resource for us to use and we could take the money out of fund balance from the extra (tax) collections last year,” said London.

Commission Chair Dean Scarborough said he had a chance to consider London’s proposal further and consider the potential cost.

Citing a couple of extra expenses the county would have to incur, Scarborough proposed a compromise.

“I wonder if we could have a target goal of re-instating it at the first of the year, in January,” said Scarborough. “We would have it for at least six months.”

London said the cost would likely be about $21,500 for the crew and associated costs for the six-month period, since it cost about $43,000 for a whole year.

Commissioner Debbie Whitlock said she feels the county should not have to rely on state inmates.

“We have a vehicle for this and equipment and we have inmates,” said Whitlock. “Why can’t we use our own inmates in Stephens County?”

County Administrator Phyllis Ayers said that the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office submitted a proposal at the same time the state did and the state proposal was less expensive to the county.

Commissioners agreed to have Commissioners Whitlock and Dennis Bell meet with the sheriff to discuss the matter.

London said he is fine with wherever the crew members come from, as long as the crew comes back.

“If that goes through, I would love to see it happen, one way or the other, by the first of the year,” said London.

County commissioners also heard from two residents on the matter. Lamar Turpin said the county should focus its money on making roads safer, while Tim Hale said that he agrees with Turpin, but does not feel making roads safer should come at the expense of keeping them clean.

Commissioners unanimously approved a motion to re-instate a litter pick crew consisting of either county or state inmates as of January 1.