County Issuing One Can Per Address

RISON - Residents wanting a second trash can for their weekly trash pick up will have to pay for it on their own after the Cleveland County Quorum Court voted in a new policy Monday night. That policy, as well as changing the quorum court's monthly meeting place to the Hall-Morgan Veterans Building, was decided during the quorum court's first meeting under new County Judge Jimmy Cummings held Monday night at the Veterans Building. While he mentioned the road conditions following last week's heavy rains, Cummings said the biggest issue for the county at the moment is solid waste and he was looking for direction from the quorum court. The county is currently in transition from Get Rid of It, Inc. to Big Smith Waste Services, Inc. Get Rid of It is still in the process of picking up its trash cans from across the county while Big Smith conducted its first trash pick-up last week. In particular, Cummings was asking the quorum court for a written policy regarding the number of trash cans a resident can receive. Cummings eluded to a policy that was previously used that would allow any household with five or more people to receive a second can at no charge. County Treasurer Angie Sims, whose office oversees the county's solid waste program, said that was policy they followed, noting that they simply took people's word for the number of people in the household since there was no means of verifying it. Cummings acknowledged that was his understanding as well, but he could not find anywhere where that was the county's written policy. Former county judge and now Justice of the Peace Melody Spears mentioned the difficulty in verifying the number of people within a household, and she said the county "should not be in the business of picking and choosing who gets a second can." Cummings explained that the county's contract with Big Smith is based on the addresses served, not the number of cans that are picked...