In the streets of Athens and on the properties of homes, an abundance of litter can be found regardless of the time or day of the week. Even if street cleaners sweep daily and trash has been picked up and thrown away properly, litter is accumulating at too high of a rate for the efforts to be noticed.
For city council members, Athens Code Enforcement officers and Athens City-County Health Department officials, this is a problem.
I'm frankly embarrassed when parents or visitors come and there is trash blowing around
said Athens City Councilwoman Nancy Bain, D-3rd Ward.
Because of this, Athens officials are considering ways to handle the litter problem. Their first focus is dealing with litter on properties and the streets.
Officials said a way to cut down on the amount of litter might be a more systemized approach to collecting litter-citation fines, which they are discussing. The current method allots for the citation to be issued to a house address rather than directly to a person, making the fines difficult to collect.
We can't tie it with an individual right now said Mike Cooper, health department sanitarian.
As of mid-December last year, there were 840 litter warnings issued, and 207 citations. Only 24 of the 207 citations have been paid, according to code-enforcement records.
There is an initial fine of $20, which increases by $10 for each additional violation, said code enforcement officer Harold Hensley.
More often than not, individuals will pick up the trash when they are asked and are given a certain amount of time to do so, Cooper said.
Many times the same places are cited for litter violations. There are also houses with empty trashcans on the porch but litter still in the yard, he said.
One suggested solution for collecting the citations is to attach them to the owner's utility bill.
Cooper said he would rather see the landlords deal with collecting litter fines from the tenants.
It would show (the landlords) take pride in their property and are not in it just for the money he said.
City council does not have an active proposal for litter violations but will have one in three to four weeks, Bain said.
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