Sunflower County is looking into purchasing a large piece of equipment to help with cleanup at dump sites in the county.
The Board of Supervisors discussed at length on Monday the dumping of solid waste along roadsides and ditches and the difficulty of cleaning the sometimes large household items with the equipment that is on hand currently in the road department.
District 3 Supervisor Ben Gaston made note of Indianola’s “grabber” but he also cautioned the board that if they were to purchase one, they need to get one with a boom long enough to reach into ditches and gullies.
District 1 Supervisor Glenn Donald initially pushed for the equipment.
“I’m asking the board if we would purchase that truck,” said Donald. “I’m asking to do the research now.”
Donald said the county often sees an influx of household items dumped around “tax time” when people purchase new furniture and appliances.
District 5 Supervisor Gloria Dickerson then brought up a dump site in Drew that the board apparently had previously set aside money to clean up, but it was never done, she said.
“Would this piece of equipment help with that?” Dickerson asked. “Would it be able to go out there? That’s a lot.”
Donald suggested subcontracting that job out to “not tie up the road department.”
Dickerson motioned to clean up the dump site, which was seconded by Donald.
“We need to get it cleaned up,” Donald said. “It’s been sitting there a year and a half since we made the decision.”
That motion carried.
