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It costs Union County about $10,000 a year to take out the trash.
According to records from the secondary roads department Monday, that is the amount spent for county employees to remove dumped garbage and other items from roads and ditches.
“That’s not in their job description picking up somebody’s garbage,” said Union County Supervisor Rick Friday. Supervisors and county officials have noted the amount of trash being found along county roads and ditches and talked about what can be done to curb or eliminate the problem.
Although the county does not have a specific ordinance related to people leaving their trash in public places, County Engineer Rick Wieland said state codes should cover the county’s interests.
He explained how he recently picked up a tire on a road and has trash in his pickup, all part of his duty to make sure the county is safe and presentable.
“But you’re right,” he said to Friday about how county employees have spent time picking up others unwanted items.
Wieland suggested having some community involvement with civic clubs and other groups having a dedicated section of a road to pick up trash on a schedule.
“It’s pretty hard to pick up a washing machine out of a culvert. In some cases, you have to have a boom truck to get that stuff out,” Friday said.
Friday said he has lost livestock on his farm because of trash.
Wieland asked about annual days where residents can leave certain, unwanted items for the county to dispose. It’s been tried before, but not with the desired results.
“We did not have the turnout we expected,” said Supervisor Dennis Brown. “It has not been successful. We are sitting there twiddling their thumbs and we are paying a person to be there.”
Supervisors wondered how effective further, legal action would have on suspects. The county attorney was not at the meeting.
“You catch one and now and again and you prosecute and the word gets out. It may help. There is no quick fix,” said Supervisor Chairman Ron Riley.
Furniture and appliances have been found in ditches. Friday said his son watched a person leave some unwanted items on a county road.
“It’ not going to hurt to have some stiff fines in place when we do catch them,” Friday said.
“I know you pick up deep freezes. The closer to the population the worse it is.”
No action was taken.
People leaving trash along county road ditches was not the only issue for supervisors. County officials are aware of people who use muddy, county roads for a thrill ride. The intent of the drive is what supervisors discussed in an effort to curb what is nicknamed “mudding.”
After heavy rains, people intentionally drive down those wet, dirt roads at a high rate of speed for entertainment value but cause damage to the road at the same time.
“Level B roads are county roads,” said Supervisor Riley. “It’s not illegal to drive on them but if they tear up public property and they are caught, we’ve never really done much about it.”
Union County Sheriff Mark Shepherd was in attendance and explained some reasoning behind law and ordinances.
“There is a difference between a law and an ordinance. An ordinance gives it some teeth
a law has to have some specific intent. If you drive down this wet road at this time of day, you are going to tear it up,” Shepherd said emphasizing the driver is not wanting to cause damage.
Finding intent to damage is a whole separate matter.
“We have farmers who have to drive the roads. They have to access their crops and farms. We stop someone driving their Ford Mustang down the road but we let the farmer go down hi road in his four-wheel drive pickup? What kind of pushback will we get from from people driving their car down the road,” Shepherd said.
Friday asked about what someone could be cited with when “mudding.” Shepherd defined reckless driving as willful and wanton disregard for the rights and safety of others. For example, a group of bystanders would have to have been threatened by the driver for a reckless driving charge.
Shepherd suggested installing signs on roads that state the action is unlawful.
“They have this problem everywhere,” he said. Shepherd added Adair and Adams counties claim they don’t have enough policy to enforce.
“If we are getting roads consistently tore up, let us know. We will do some setting up on those and stop somebody who is driving down there.”
In other county news…
Supervisors approved for Penny Carson to read a portion of the New Testament from the Bible beginning at 7:14 a.m., Wednesday, July 14 on the courthouse alarm. In her request letter, she said no more than 12 will be in attendance. Biblical readings have been done in Iowa counties in recent years.
During a review of the county’s policies, Tom Hartsock from Hartsock Insurance Agency told the supervisors he expects Iowa insurance premiums to increase because of the hurricane-like storm that blew through eastern Iowa last summer and caused extensive damage. He also sees rates go up because of cybersecurity threats and added not every insurance company offers cybersecurity insurance.