Mayor Errick Simmons and the Greenville City Council discussed developing and executing a solid plan of action for eliminating trash and litter around the city.
Ward 3 Councilman Bill Boykin brought the topic to attention and said there needs to be more funding toward cleaning up the city.
“The least expensive thing that we’ve spent money on is cleaning this town up, we don’t have a lot of money to do a lot of other things but there’s no rhyme or reason when people come here they don’t say, ‘That’s the cleanest town I’ve ever been to,’” Boykin said.
The entire council was in agreement about the need for a cleaner, more attractive Greenville. Vice mayor Tasha Banks added it’s not just the city’s place to do it, but also the people of the community who need to take better pride in the community and assist in cleaning it up.
“We can’t do it all,” Banks said. “It’s gonna take a team effort from everybody in our community to work together to get this done.”
Public Works Director Jermaine Thornton agreed with the council and also highlighted some of the circumstances which tend to work against the sanitation department’s best efforts.
“In a lot of situations this time of year, I have five crews or so that police the street and pick up trash; they can go down certain streets where if you pick it up at 8 o’clock in the morning, before lunch it doesn’t even look like you’ve been there,” Thornton said.
Ward 6 Councilman James Wilson suggested moving forward, the city do more to reinforce the ordinances in place which prohibit illegal dumping and trash disposal.
“We know individually everyone can do their part and the city will do its part, but let’s get a plan in place,” Simmons said.
After the discussion, Simmons requested Thornton look into whether “illegal dumping” signs could be posted in some of the problem areas which include Banks’ Ward 5 and Councilwoman Lurann Thomas’ Ward 4.
