Stephens Co. To Move Large Trash Bins From Landfill

As Stephens County’s inert landfill prepares to close along with the already closed C & D landfill, the county is making plans for moving the bins where people can drop off trash like old mattresses, electronics, and so forth.

On Tuesday, county commissioners voted unanimously to relocate the non-inert solid waste bins located at the landfill now to the Road Department and charge $15 per vehicle as of December 31.

Stephens County Administrator Phyllis Ayers said moving the bins and then charging a flat fee instead of charging based on weight would be simpler and save in next year’s county budget.

“We will not need to open up the scale house or operate the scales,” said Ayers, who added the employee would then be transferred to the Road Department as well.

Ayers said that the county figured out the $15 per vehicle flat fee by looking at the last six months of drop-off history at the bins.

She said that while there is not a lot of traffic in some months, the county was able to figure out how much on average vehicles have been paying per drop-off.

“It was about $9 for an average vehicle for dumping mattresses, sofas, and electronics,” said Ayers.

Ayers said the county took that $9 average and increased it to a proposal of $15 per vehicle after looking at what other counties were charging.

County officials said that the proposed rate would be competitive with Rabun and other neighboring counties.

Local resident Bryan Dooley asked county commissioners if they were concerned that the changes in location and especially fee structure might cause an increase in illegal dumping throughout the county of large trash items.

Stephens County Commissioner Stanley London said that the county offers opportunities like free drop-offs at amnesty days to help with that problem.

Ayers said the county will post plenty of notices at the landfill to help get word out about the changes that will take effective as of December 31.

The Stephens County Commission makes two board appointments.

During Tuesday’s meeting, the county commission voted unanimously to appoint Gregory Savage to the Stephens County Board of Tax Assessors for a three-year term beginning on January 1, 2016 and ending December 31, 2018.

Also, county commissioners voted unanimously to re-appoint Brenda Chapman to the Board of Health for a six-year term beginning January 1, 2016 and ending December 31, 2021.

In other action from Tuesday’s Stephens County Commission meeting, commissioners voted unanimously to extend a temporary moratorium on acceptance of county roads into the county road maintenance system through December 31, 2016.

This is a continuation of a moratorium that has been in effect since July 2014.

County officials say it is needed to allow the county to take care of the roads it already has for the time being before accepting more.