County Commissioner's
Office
County Talk
By
Lamar Paris - Commissioner
Clarification: Some people got the impression from my Q & A
last week that corrugated cardboard is accepted in the Neighborhood
Recycling Program. Corrugated cardboard is ONLY accepted at
the transfer station, not at Neighborhood Recycling.
Q. Why has this been such a frustrating
week for the Commissioner’s
office? (I made this question up.)
A. We work hard to give the public the answers to hundreds of questions,
but when on May 2, 2007, I answered a detailed question on why the
county can not accept glass for recycling at the present time, it
is frustrating when a constituent then contacts a state representative
and has him call the county and ask why we do not accept glass. Not
only did I answer the question in my Q & A column earlier this
month, but we gave the web site of our contractor, www.ngrma.org,
who further explained it, as well as having a link on the county
web site. Every question that I have answered is also available
on the county web site. If you do not have a computer, then
please go to the library and they will show you how to access this
information or you can come by our office and we will print it for
you.
To repeat, the short answer is that the transfer station does not
accept glass because there is currently no market for selling it.
The Commissioner’s office is here to serve
the people of Union County and we will always be available to answer
your questions and address your concerns, even if we have done
it many times before.
Q. Why were so many people complaining about different issues
in last weeks NGN letters and viewpoints?
A. In last weeks NGN viewpoints and letters to the editor,
we had several people complaining about trash, litter and when
the county should pick it up and how we should put the information
in the newspaper. If some of these same people would read the
county Q & A column regularly, most of these questions would
have been answered. We have covered this subject on numerous
occasions. We have printed the road names several times
explaining how much trash we pick up and where. We do
not think it is appropriate or necessary to continue to do that. We
are literally picking up hundreds of tons of trash weekly all over
the county and the list of roads is too long for me to add here. If
you need a list of the roads, please call the Road Dept. at 706-439-6062
and ask. They have a record of all roads where we pick up trash.
Q. Why don’t you pick up the trash
before you mow a road?
A. While this may sound simple enough, it is not. The mowers
continue on a circuit where they mow all the roads as they come to
them in the county. It is impossible to pick up trash on all
the roads ahead of the mowers as it takes a lot longer to pick up
trash on a road than it does to mow it. Also, since our inmates
pick up the trash, if their guard is off on a certain day or he has
to go to a training session or is sick, then the crew is not available
on those days to pick up trash.
Also, we pick up trash more often on the main
roads and less often on the smaller county roads, which again makes
coordinating with the mowers almost impossible. Union County
employees DO NOT and can not pick up trash on state highways
Q. Does it frustrate you when “stupid” questions
are asked?
A. First, there are no stupid questions. The questions may
seem that way to certain people, but the person asking the question
usually has a legitimate concern and may not understand an issue
that might be common sense to others. The purpose in having
this column, in addition to providing as much information about the
county operation as we can, is to let you know what type issues the
county must deal with. We do not use names of the people asking
the questions because our goal is not to embarrass anyone but to
educate them.
Do I get really frustrated at times with the complaints and questions?
Certainly I do, but it is part of my job and hopefully with answering
these questions, it will make it easier on someone else.
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