Residents urge Harnett County to tackle roadside litter, ask for second environmental deputy

Residents told the Harnett County Board of Commissioners on Monday that roadside litter and illegal dumping are widespread, creating safety and environmental hazards and harming the county’s image.

Larry Mitchell, a volunteer with Harnett County Soil and Water Conservation, told commissioners he spends five or six days a week picking up litter along rural roads and presented photos showing tires, furniture, leaking containers and bags of trash strewn in ditches. “That center bag, if it stays out too long, the wildlife, they get the trash,” Mitchell said, describing threats to animals and additional work to re-bag exposed trash.

Mitchell said he notified Deputy Ivy when he found a dead dog in a bag in a ditch, and that the Department of Transportation collected piled trash after he reported it. He described traffic speed and proximity to work areas as a safety concern and asked the board to “fund and support a second environmental deputy” so deputies would not have to travel long distances to respond to severe litter problems.

Resident Jerry Rivas added that unlicensed or informal trash haulers appear to operate from private yards, describing broken-down vehicles and what he called makeshift truck bodies at addresses in the Twin Ponds Road area. He said those sites sometimes lack basic utilities and contribute to visible neighborhood blight.

Commissioner remarks and staff responses came later in the meeting. County Manager Brent Trout said the county can revisit a nonprofit committee topic and agreed to place discussion of county trash issues on a future work session agenda. “We can get together and we can rediscuss that,” Trout said when asked about scheduling a work-session discussion on trash.

The speakers asked commissioners to consider a combination of enforcement, additional sheriff’s-office resources and clearer interdepartmental communication to address recurring dumping, hazardous dumping (antifreeze and oil cans) and litter that interferes with prospective economic development. The meeting record shows no formal vote on creating a second environmental deputy; commissioners agreed to add trash to the next work session for further discussion.

The public comment exchange occurred during the meeting’s public comment period and the board did not take immediate formal action on the requests.