The Montezuma County Board of County Commissioners has decided to abandon a proposed rubbish ordinance altogether after about a year of inquiry due to financial constraints and the cost anticipated to enforce it.
The ordinance, if adopted, would have provided a procedure for local government to intervene and address suspected trash, junk or garbage buildup on private property.
That process may have looked like adopting an ordinance allowable under Colorado Revised Statutes 30-15-401(1)(a)(I)(A). The statute gives local governments the ability to write local laws and issue citations that require removal for accumulating piles. “Rubbish” is the term for junk and trash used in the law, and the law makes certain exemptions for industrial and agricultural lands.
Discussion around the issue has been ongoing for some time. It arose when the commissioners traveled to Pleasant View and heard concerns about blight and accumulating trash on neighboring properties.
The board launched spring cleanup days in coordination with county landfill staff, the costs of it recovered by the county. The board also looked into how rubbish policies operate in similar counties such as Mesa, Delta and Montrose.
But there was underlying concern for how to objectively distinguish trash from items property owners could consider valuable – or, as the saying goes, “one person’s trash may be another’s treasure.”
“You drive around and it’s difficult to explain,” said Commissioner Kent Lindsay during a meeting Aug. 24. “Because you drive down any county road, and how do you determine that it’s trash or an investment. There are certain spots where we have trash accumulation, there’s no doubt about it.”
On top of that, county staff such as attorney Stephen Tarnowski repeatedly noted the practical hurdles behind the ordinance during past meetings.
Enforcing the ordinance would require creating an entirely new division or paying additional full-time staff, which Commissioner Jim Candelaria said Aug. 24 the county does not have funding for. After a recent budget session, the commissioner said he grasped a more surreal understanding of this year’s revenue shortfall.
“Now, knowing that we are going to strapped with another $800,000 to $900,000 short of revenue … We really don’t have the money that I can anticipate in the future for FTEs (full-time employees) to enforce this or administer the program,” Candelaria said.
“It would not be cheap, and it would have to be a whole department or division,” said the planning director Don Haley.
The commissioners then agreed that without funding for enforcement, the ordinance would be a mere “piece of paper” with no practical implementation.
Candelaria said looking at the budget next year, potentially $100,000 can be allocated for free cleanup days, which Lindsay also agreed entices people toward voluntarily cleanup and is a more ideal strategy.
The results of the public survey for a proposed rubbish ordinance can be viewed at the county’s website: https://montezumacounty.gov.
awatson@the-journal.com
