Lee County adopts updated solid-waste plan amid public complaints about curbside system

Lee County commissioners voted to adopt an updated solid-waste management plan and authorized the chairman to sign the paperwork required for submission to the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM).

John McDonald of Lee County Environmental Services told the commission the plan is an update the department has worked on for some time and that adopting it would not restrict the commissions ability to be flexible with service providers. "We are here tonight to request that you adopt the solid waste management plan," McDonald said.

The vote, taken by voice, carried after a brief discussion; Commissioner Rich LeGrand recorded the only voiced opposition in the meeting record.

The adoption came after two residents used public comment to press the commission on curbside trash services. Lance Farrar said he had prepared a 23-point plan to correct what he called a curbside monopoly currently operating under names mentioned in the record, and accused the county of "commingling of funds" and double billing. Farrar told commissioners: "I'm subsidizing the trash in the county that I don't benefit from." Another resident urged a return to competitive contracting and enforcement of an existing $70,000 dumpster-site line item rather than new private-sector monitoring expenditures.

McDonald and staff told the commission the plan does not foreclose operational flexibility and that adoption is part of the county's compliance obligations. The plan will be transmitted to the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) as required.

The commission did not adopt additional operational directives at the meeting; public commentators urged further action to address curbside contracting and billing. The commission approved the plan by voice vote and the record shows at least one commissioner in opposition; formal vote tallies were recorded as a voice vote in the minutes package.