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Resident urges Hamblen County to end junk pickup, limit service to brush removal
Summary
A resident urged the commission to stop county pickup of household bulk junk and revert to brush-only collection, proposing a notice in next year's tax bill to communicate the change to residents.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Laura Williams urged county leaders to stop collecting household junk and return the county's bulk pickup program to its earlier, brush-only purpose.
"It's my understanding that the original intent was for brush removal only several years ago. And so now we have a situation where it's gone far beyond that, and people are putting out have been putting out their junk for the county to remove. And in my opinion, it's not the county's responsibility to get rid of people's junk," Williams said. She asserted that county collection of bulky items has created a "junky" appearance and fostered disrespect for neighborhoods.
Williams proposed that the county notify all taxpayers on next year's tax notice that the county will no longer pick up junk and will limit collection to brush only. "Just give everybody a notification in the county that the county will no longer be providing services of picking up junk. We're gonna go back to just picking up brush," she said.
Why it matters: the comment raises a policy question about the scope and cost of county-provided bulk collection services and suggests a simple communication channel — the tax notice — to reach residents if the commission considers a policy change.
Ending: Williams' proposal was delivered as public comment; no committee action or vote on changing bulk pickup policy was taken at the meeting.
