April brings Harlan County Spring Cleanup

Published 4:58 pm Monday, April 3, 2023

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Spring is in the air, and with warmer weather many prepare to give their surroundings a spring cleaning. During a recent meeting, the Harlan County Fiscal Court discussed the county’s annual Spring Cleanup.

Harlan County Judge-Executive Dan Mosley addressed the subject near the end of the meeting.

“April is always designated Spring Cleanup month for the 5th Congressional District,” Mosley said. “We have decided this year we’re revamping our plan on that, and I wanted to run it by you all how we plan to do that differently this year.”

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Mosley explained Waste Connections has committed four roll-off boxes (large dumpsters) for the county’s use during Spring Cleanup.

“The way this will work is each of you all will have three at once during one particular week during the month,” Mosley said. “The first week of the month will be District 1. The second week will be District 2, and so on.”

According to Mosley, District 5 will overlap with the first week of May.

“The first week of the month, District 1 will have three roll-off boxes to decide where they get placed in your district,” Mosley said. “When one is full, they will bring the fourth (box) and swap them out…you will have three in place at one time.”

Mosley said the new method is designed to be more user-friendly for residents.

“I’m going to lean on you all to decide where you want those,” Mosley told the magistrates.

Magistrate Paul Browning suggested the county coordinate the districts’ backhoe rotation to accommodate their week with the multiple roll-off boxes. Mosley agreed with the suggestion.

“We’re going to be leaning on assistance from the road department during this project,” Mosley said. “I do think this will flow much more smoothly. I appreciate the input regarding the backhoe. That’s a great idea.”

Mosley asked the magistrates to decide where they wanted to place the roll-off boxes as soon as possible.

“We’ll finalize that this week and that way, we’ll be ready to promote it,” Mosley said. “We encourage people to participate. If you have a group that wants to do some type of cleanup such as roadside litter or whatever, contact Lakis Mavinidis at the Solid Waste Department. We see a lot of litter on our roadways, we need to clean it up…Tourism is really happening here, people are coming in and they don’t want to see garbage on the side of the road. That’s an area we’ve got to improve on.”

For more information on participating in Spring Cleanup, call the Harlan County Solid Waste Department at 606-573-9423.