Augusta City Administrator Odie Donald laid out a detailed plan for cleaning up Augusta on Tuesday with a major announcement of a “No Fee Amnesty Day” from 8 a.m. to noon, Oct. 23 the Richmond County landfill.
Donald told Augusta commissioners he and his staff are trying to make sure they’re responding to the pandemic as well as organizing cleanup and maintenance efforts for downtown.
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“So, one of the biggest challenges is folks have been cooped up in the house and have not been able to get rid of their bulk trash, and so our illegal dumping has increased,” he said. “Our new Director Brooks Stayer at the Richmond County landfill will help us with an Augusta bulk trash day, so our residents can dump unwanted tires, garbage, yard waste, certain electrical items to help mitigate illegal dumping.”
The landfill won’t be able to accept liquids or hazardous materials and proof of residency in Richmond County is required.
The free dumping day is already budgeted for, Donald said.
“We believe we can take care of this with $20,000,” he said.
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Donald is hopeful that when the rules for American Rescue Plan money comes out after Labor Day, they will permit the city to use the money for an Emergency Cleanup Day.
“We’re already gearing up for that,” he said. “If that is the case, we would ask you to allow an emergency procurement, ask the full commission for that. It would be a part of our plan, and we would get on it immediately.”
Commissioner Sean Frantom asked whether there was any way that the “No Fee Amnesty Day” could go into the community for people who could not get to the landfill.
“Is there a way to put cans, put a truck at their community centers from 9 to 12? Like having a truck there. Is there any solutions like that?”
Donald said the reason they were looking at October for the cleanup is that they would have information from the ARP and could merge the resources.
“For this stand-alone and budget activity there’s currently not, but we are planning for that,” Donald said. “I just would not talk about it publicly because we’d be fumbling not having all the information.”
Meanwhile, Donald said the “dynamic” city staff has moved quickly toward clean up downtown.
Various departments are responsible for different areas, which causes confusion as they look at beautifying downtown.
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“We have a short-term plan to resolve these issues now, but we really will need to resolve it during the budget process when we consolidate who will be delivering those services,” he said. “Right now, Parks and Recreation, Environmental Services, Engineering, Central Services and Utilities all have a piece in managing our downtown. And that is extremely confusing, but with the resources we have today we have identified who will be delivering what services.
– Parks and Recreation will mow all turf areas, manage irrigation, landscape maintenance, end cap granite capstone management, clean bathrooms and keep litter off roadways.
– Environmental Services will manage litter, trash collection in residential and commercial locations downtown and ensure that the sidewalk trash receptacles are maintained.
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– Central Services will maintain the Municipal Building.
– Utilities will maintain the fountains downtown.
“We have delineated that work down to the most minute detail, and beginning this upcoming week, they all have assignments and will be delivering this service to make sure we’re maintaining until we can get through the end of the year,” Donald said.
“And we will be doing this with existing resources,” he added.
Sylvia Cooper is a Correspondent with The Augusta Press. Reach her at sylvia.cooper@theaugustapress.com.
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