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MULLICA TOWNSHIP - Township officials want the county's Public Works Department to clean up the trash along county roadways instead of just running over it with a lawn mower.

Committeeman Bernard Graebener drafted a letter to Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson on Thursday that called on Levinson to do something to rid the township of the trash that lines county roads in the township.

"(The county workers) aren't picking the trash up. They're just mowing it over and blowing it into the woods," Graebener said. "You can walk out there and see the trash is all cut up."

Committeewoman Kathy Chasey, who was the only committee member to vote against sending the letter, said she is "very comfortable" with how the county maintains its right of way.

"There (are) 371 total miles of county road in the entire county. Mullica has 50 or so miles of it. They only pick up in the right of way where they mow," Chasey explained. "Does that mean there's never going to be a piece of trash that gets caught in the mower and blown all over the place? Absolutely not. It's going to happen. But they do everything they possibly can to prevent it."

When Graebener asked what alternatives there were to get the trash removed, Chasey suggested the possibility of using the township's Road Department to clean up the mess on the county roads.

"We get the same services as every other town (in the county). We're not going to get special service. We're not going to get extra pickups," Chasey said. "If we want to use our own road department ... to go out and pick up county roads, we certainly can do that."

Harry Tillett, the head of the county's Department of Public Works, said his department already does everything possible to pick up trash along county roads.

"If you run over one piece of trash, it becomes 100 pieces and more work to pick it up. So we pick up the trash whenever we can," Tillett said. "Living in a tourist area, we are always battling ... trash along the roads where there is a lot of traffic with people who come from out of state."

Tillett said if the township informs the county about a bad trash problem at a particular location, county workers would promptly respond.

"We try to keep up with it all," he said. "But if we're working at one location, there is another 374 miles of road that aren't being picked up."

But Graebener said multiple calls to the county this year were futile.

"Basically, it leaves a poor impression of Mullica for visitors," he said. "It's very unsightly."

E-mail Robert Spahr:

RSpahr@pressofac.com

1 comment:

• JerseyDevil (395) posts 4:49 am

  All Levenson has to do is have those dump trucks that has two,sometimes three workers that have a little bit of road tar on the back as a sham to look busy.Let them clean up the garbage before it is shreaded buy those lazy mower drivers. No use looking for the Public Works Department bosses as they are at Vince Jones Fire Training building. Harry Tillett should be fired at once. He is a major cog in the wheel.

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