By Betsy Finklea
The City of Dillon recently passed an ordinance regarding the maintenance of residential garbage containers.
At the meetings where this matter was discussed, City Manager Glen Wagner said the city has several occurrences a week where people report that their roll cart is missing or has been defaced.
He said the city is eating that cost when the user should be more responsible with their roll carts and take care of it.
The ordinance passed provides steps for the city to take if someone misplaces, defaces, or damages their roll cart and to make them more accountable. He said the cost is roughly about $85 to replace a cart if it is not usable.
Street Superintendent Burt Rogers said some people put their cart out by the road and then leave it there which leads to it being taken or damaged.
He said if the citizens are held more responsible for their carts, he feels that they will go out and take it back to the house and take better care of it. This will take some of the vagueness out of past ordinances dealing with the matter.
If a cart is damaged, it will be the city’s determination as to who did the damage.
Wagner noted that the carts do have ID numbers so if one is stolen and then located, it can be identified.
Rogers said they were not trying to make residents buy carts; they are trying to make residents more responsible for their carts.
The ordinance states the following:
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 6, CHAPTER 2, SECTION 6-2-11 (MAINTENANCE OF MOBILE CONTAINERS; REPLACEMENT) OF THE CITY OF DILLON CODE OF ORDINANCES
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the Mayor and Council of the City of Dillon, that Title 6, Chapter 2, Section 6-2-11 (Maintenance of Mobile Containers; Replacement) of the City of Dillon Code of Ordinances is hereby amended, so that the provisions shall read as follows:
SECTION I. Section 6-2-11 (MAINTENANCE OF MOBILE CONTAINERS; REPLACEMENT).
(A) It shall be the responsibility of each household handle the maintenance of mobile containers to the degree of which they are capable.
(B) It shall be the responsibility of the occupant/user to keep their individual mobile and bulk containers reasonably clean and free of water.
(C) Mobile containers furnished by the city shall remain the property of the city and are provided and assigned to the residences for the health, safety, convenience and general welfare of the occupants. Containers which are damaged, destroyed, defaced or removed from the assigned address shall be replaced by the user or owner of the residential property. The user/owner of the residence will pay the City of Dillon eighty-five dollars ($85) for a replacement. The replacement cost will be added to the water accountant and must be paid by due date of the current bill.
SECTION II. BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED by Mayor and Council of the City of Dillon that all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict with this ordinance are hereby repealed to the extent necessary to give the provisions of this ordinance full force and effect.
SECTION III. BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that this ordinance shall take effect and be in force from and after its adoption.