ELLERBE — Town officials will maintain twice-weekly trash collection after residents overwhelmingly opposed a proposal to reduce pickup to once a week during a public hearing.
The Ellerbe Town Council unanimously voted to keep the current schedule following feedback from attendees, who cited concerns about sanitation, stray animals and overall community upkeep.
“It’s to get the workers to do more beautification as far as trash pickup, as far as limbs, leaves and sidewalk work,” said Mayor Lee Berry. “As you know, we had a dilapidated water and sewer system still. There’s a leak every day, and that was the only reason behind that.”
Ester McDonald asked if the town were to do trash pickup once a week, if the cost would be reduced, to which Berry responded no because it would be the same amount of trash being collected and it costs the same amount to dispose it.
Residents repeatedly raised concerns about stray dogs and their impact on trash collection.
“I call them a lot. I even call the sheriff,” McDonald said. They were like they didn’t have anywhere to put the dogs. I was hoping Wendell was here tonight because I request a cage and he said ‘we don’t have but three cages, and every dog we catch is the same dog we catch again.’”
McDonald also asked if the town were to pick up trash once a week, if they would provide an additional trash can free of charge, which Berry responded to no.
Mayor Pro Tem John Sears Jr. said the proposal was intended in part to reduce costs and strain on equipment.
“I bought my second [trash can]… this came up last meeting and it came up before. This is a way for us to save some money, save some man hours, save some wear and tear on the equipment. I’ve talked to different people and some say they are fine with it, they can get by one day a week and some people say they cannot get by one day a week.”
Sears continued, “I thought maybe with two big receptacles everybody could get by with one day a week, but everybody’s household is different, so that’s why we’re having a public hearing.”
Barbara Wagers said reducing service could undermine recent improvements in the town’s appearance.
“Ms. Brenda worked hard to get us those trash cans and it’s hard to get people to keep their yards clean. On our street, all of our folks are doing really well using their trash cans now,” said Barbara Wagers. “That’s the beautification of Ellerbe. Everything looks good, the trash cans look good, this room looks good, the outside looks good. Ellerbe is going to suffer something else. We don’t want to lose what we have.”
Former Ellerbe Mayor Brenda Capel was also against the proposal.
“I wanted to say, economically, it would not make sense. We spent over $100,000 on a truck, we spent $47,000 in garbage receptacles,” Capel said. “With all the money that we have spent, whatever the problems are, we need to go to plan B. I don’t think we need to come back, rehashing this every other year or every two years.”
Annie McDonald also voiced concerns regarding the dogs getting into her trash.
“The thing is, I have to spray with Clorox and water to keep dogs out of the way. If they spill over the trash, the town isn’t going to pick it up. If the trash is not in a bag, they’re not going to dump it.”
McDonald said if beautification is an issue, why can’t the community help fixing the issue so “we can let these guys do some trash pickup.”
Berry noted that when he was serving one of his terms as mayor years back, the town used to do a trash pickup twice a year.
“Dogs and cats are definitely an issue in the town of Ellerbe,” Berry said.
Berry informed that Richmond County is a no-kill county, so a lot of the dogs will get released right back.
Addie Robinson echoed the sentiments of attendees about the community helping with beautification through trash cleanup efforts.
“Like you said, years and years ago, we used to have beautification in Ellerbe. You can go back to that because we love our town,” Robinson said. “We want it to be pretty, but we got to have some leadership here to plan these things and see who’s interested. Just don’t stop picking up trash and say ‘okay, that’s going be the beautification of Ellerbe.’”
“I want y’all to know this was brought on by somebody that asked about this question, and the only way that the council members could get an answer to their question was with y’all’s comments,” said Berry. “Y’all’s comments have basically said we’re going to stay two days a week.”
Linda Robinson also voiced her concerns about the dogs and cats that tend to get into her trash. “As y’all know, I am a handicapped person. I have to get out there and pick that trash up and put it back in the trash can.
The council’s decision keeps the existing twice-weekly schedule.
“See you twice a week,” said Berry.