BAMBERG, S.C. - The hiring of a permanent litter control officer is one option being considered as part of Bamberg County Council's continued quest to clean up its trash-laden roads.

The issue was resurrected during a Monday night Bamberg County Council meeting, when Councilwoman Alzena Robinson requested the council compensate a Bamberg County resident who volunteers to pick up trash with $75 to help offset gas expenses.

Bamberg County resident Thurmond Nichols, who has approached council before about the litter problem, already volunteers his time to clean up the county's roads with help from individuals who have been sentenced to perform community service.

The council had already authorized the county to spend up to $1,000 from its contingency fund to reimburse Nichols and fellow litter control volunteer Lee Driggers for gas expenses for the rest of the year during its October 2006 meeting.

Bamberg County Administrator Booker Patrick said Monday night that Nichols is also being paid "like $25 per day."

"I agree with him. He's not going out into the county unless we compensate him. Gas is expensive, and you have inmates with him from 8 o'clock until 4 o'clock. So, I'm asking the county to look at the possibility because all of our districts in the county need somebody to pick up," said Robinson, noting that she has noticed roads with "awful" litter problems. She said she has observed Nichols and his crew cleaning up litter along the roads.

But, Patrick said there was an efficiency problem as it pertained to Nichols and his work with the cleanup crews.

"What he was doing was taking two guys to Olar, dropping them out and then riding back to Bamberg. Two hours later, he'd go back and check on them and then come back to Bamberg," Patrick said.

"I can only tell you what I observed," said Robinson, noting that the county could at least provide $75, particularly since the city of Bamberg was already paying Nichols $50 to help keep the city clean.

The council ultimately referred the issue to the solid waste committee, which will meet with Nichols and Bamberg County Litter Control Board President the Rev. Ted Robinson to discuss the matter.

"Before I want to go out and start paying $75 a day to a volunteer -- and that makes him a non-volunteer -- to ride litter crews around to work, I'd rather ... look at just going ahead and hiring a full-time litter control officer," Councilman Chris Wilson said.

Wilson also criticized the council's fragmented approach to tackling litter. He said not only were Nichols and his crews being utilized to address the problem, but the county is also collaborating with the SouthernCarolina Alliance on a litter control program. In addition, the county has its own litter control board, which Wilson said is apparently being overlooked.

"Those are the people that we've all appointed to try to do something to combat the litter, and I'd just as soon see them come in and meet at the same time because we're going to be splintered on it when ... there's no comprehensive and overall plan," Wilson said.

In other business, council:

• Gave second reading approval to an ordinance to regulate public nuisances and unfit dwellings within the county and to provide enforcement procedures and violation penalties.

• Appointed Bill Johnson, county building inspector, to the Lower Savannah Council of Government's transportation committee.

• Approved the lowest bid of $936.44 for a bay station radio for the Edisto Fire Station. The council approved $700 to purchase the radio during its July meeting. Council Chairperson Dot Tatum and Councilman Clint Carter pledged to pay the remaining cost between themselves at Monday's meeting.

• Accepted as information a report concerning an inventory of rural fire department concerns and needs. Council members spent approximately five hours visiting the rural fire departments on July 23. Robinson requested the public safety committee review the report before any action is taken.

Tatum admonished council not to micro-manage the fire service.

"If we start micro-managing one, we start micro-managing everyone," Tatum said.

"We are responsible for the people. We need to do what is right," Robinson said.

• Instructed County Administrator Rose Dobson-Elliott to write a letter to the Rev. Rufus Jamison regarding his request to have Grassy Road and Salley Road adopted into the county's road maintenance system. The letter will stipulate that the council will not include the roads until the mandatory easement requirements are met.

"So far, he has not gone by the rules," Tatum said.

Councilman Clair Guess, Jamison's district representative, said Jamison was under the impression that the roads could be grandfathered in.

• Gave final, third-reading approval, with Guess abstaining, to the issuance and sale of South Carolina Educational Facilities Rental Revenue Bonds, Series 2007, to Voorhees College in an amount not to exceed $15.5 million. The college will use the funds for dorm development and refinancing of some older debt.

• Approved the appointment of Roosevelt Bryant as the county representative to the Workforce Development Board in the category of education.

• Was informed by the administrator that the county received two Barrett Larrimore Regional Corp. awards during the South Carolina Association of Counties Annual Conference at Hilton Head. One award was for the county's participation with Allendale and Barnwell counties on a cardboard recycling project. The other was for the county's participation with Allendale to provide improved regional transportation service. Allendale and Bamberg have similar systems in their respective Scooter and Handy Ride transportation programs.

T&D Staff Writer Dionne Gleaton can be reached by e-mail at dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5534. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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