Sheriff proposes reviving work-release trash-pickup van; board approves van purchase contingent on council funding

Sheriff Noah Robinson asked the Vanderburgh County Solid Waste Management District Board on a motion-approved request to fund a 15-passenger van to revive a community corrections work-release trash-pickup program, with the board approving purchase of a van up to $65,000 contingent on the Vanderburgh County Council approving a residential officer position to administer the program.

The program Robinson described would run in two phases and use a van towing an existing trailer to pick up roadside trash five days a week. Robinson said the van would carry about 15 participants at a time and that the sheriff’s office would equip it with emergency lighting; participants would wear reflective vests and ordinary street clothes rather than jail uniforms. "I would ask that, the the board consider funding a new van, a van that would allow 15 passengers at a time, to be taken to locations that need to have trash…