Resident wants citation after half-mile of trash lines highway
Resident Don Siefert told the Perry County Board Thursday that he discovered trash dumped along a half-mile stretch of Holly Road on July 8. He called both the Perry County Sheriff's Dept. and Solid Waste Coordinator Becky Tracy after 3 p.m. that afternoon to report the problem. He apologized to both Sheriff Keith Kellerman and Tracy for getting irate on the phone that day. Siefert said he inspected some of the trash and found that a significant portion of it was related to Gold Plate in Du Quoin. He then contacted Gold Plate.
Two ladies from Gold Plate came and cleaned the area. They told Siefert they suspected a nearby resident who had worked for Gold Plate at one time was responsible for the mess. Siefert told the County Board that he wanted the resident ticketed and/or fined.
Tracy said she spoke to Siefert on July 8 then immediately scheduled a clean-up for the next day. She then called Gold Plate, but they were closed. She spoke with them the next morning and was told they had already cleaned the mess.
Tracy asked Siefert if he had any proof that the suspected litterbug had been in possession of the trash that was cleaned up. He had no proof.
In other business, the board:
• heard from County Engineer Brian Otten that after hearing from the public, no action will be taken on Jackson Street in Du Quoin. Otten said the flooding of the ditches does not impede the safe and efficient flow of traffic on the road. Approximately 1,500 cars per day travel on that road. As far as Otten knows, there have not been any accidents on the road due to flooding. The flooding is contained to private driveways. The county does not maintain private driveways. Driveway maintenance is the responsibility of individual property owners. However, the county will replace tiles under driveways if a structural failure occurs.
• heard from Sheriff Kellerman he signed a new contract with the Federal Marshals for housing federal prisoners. He expects to generate an additional $100,000 in revenue per year from the new contract.
• heard from Sheriff Kellerman that the roof on the Perry County Courthouse needs to be replaced. There is no leaking right now, but the shingles are nearly 20 years old and there are guttering problems. He expects the project to be costly.
• Two minor items were found in the county audit. A number of single-signature checking accounts exist and the auditors were unable to obtain the vacation and sick pay information from one office.
He suggested that the accounts require two signatures for any non-routine payments and the other information be made available.
• appointed June McDaniel, Ruth Plymale, Doug Plymale, Dena Dieguez, Julie Margenthaler and Greg Margenthaler to the Weitzel Cemetery Association Board.
• passed a resolution awarding the contract for construction on Pintail Bridge to Dees Inc. of West Frankfort. The low bid was $103,286. A small structure without safety features will be replaced by a larger structure with safety features.