See editorial A6
After an increasing number of agricultural-related spills over the past few years, Sampson County commissioners have followed an example set by the city of Clinton, adding teeth to regulations, ordinances and punishments for individuals who are responsible for spilling waste onto county roadways.
At Monday night’s regular monthly meeting, held online due to the winter weather, the Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a solid waste ordinance and fee schedule that county leaders hope will combat the ever-growing problem.
“Well, as everyone knows, it’s been a major issue for the county that’s been going on for a few years with the animal waste spills,” County Manager Allen Vann said during the meeting, calling the spills “a kind of a side effect” of the county’s $2.1 billion agriculture industry. “But it’s something that has gone on for a while. We haven’t had a good protocol in place. You know, we can’t keep doing things the way we’ve been doing it, because it’s exerting a lot of resources and things.”
Over the past few months, Vann said he and Commissioner Chairman Allen McLamb have met with stakeholders, including major hog and poultry producers, Sampson County Emergency Services, the Fire Marshal’s Office, the Sheriff’s Office, County Attorney Paul Allen, GFL, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Transportation, the Highway Patrol and city of Clinton officials.
To start the discussions, Vann said he knew the county needed to update its solid waste ordinance. “We also came to the realization that we needed a spill coordination policy, that’s what we’ve coined it, and it works hand in hand and is informed by the solid waste ordinance,” he explained. “So, specifically, the proposed updated ordinance, and spill coordination policy, will help to provide a true protocol… whenever we do have to deal with these spills, so that we can avoid confusion, frustration and — this is key right here — unnecessary deployment of public safety resources and various agencies.”
Vann further explained that when these spills occur, many agencies want to help, but without any protocol in place, “it’s just a waste of resources for everybody just kind of standing around, not really clear on what to do.”
He emphasized that partners in the ag industry have been very supportive throughout the process of addressing the spills.
In addition to a solid waste ordinance and spill coordination policy, Vann asked the commissioners to approve a $25,000 line item that will allow Sampson County to immediately contact a cleanup contractor whenever the entities responsible for the spill are unable to provide a contractor of their own or authorities are unable to locate who’s responsible.
“Of course, when we’re unsure who the violator is, we will work with the Sheriff’s Office and other parties to perform an investigation to locate said violator,” he said. “In many cases, we will determine the guilty party, bill them or their insurance provider for the cleanup, and be able to reimburse this $25,000 line item. But to be clear, there will be occasions when we’re not able to identify the violator. And so in those cases, you know, we’re not reimbursed for that money.”
The proposed fee schedule would also allow the county to bill for the first responders; for example, the fire departments’ associated apparatuses and equipment that were used for the incident. “This will be a separate billing from the actual cleanup, and this money will be reimbursed to the fire departments,” he explained.
The county attorney then went through some of the finer points of the ordinance, policy, line item and fee schedule for the commissioners.
“We took the opportunity here to go through and do a more full, vetted and robust adjustment and update to the Sampson County solid waste ordinance,” Allen stated, adding that Sampson coordinated with Anson County to create these documents, since it is, he said, the only other county in North Carolina that has a significant ag waste spill problem.
One key component of the ordinance is that there will be a $100 charge per offense for littering and residential violations, and a $500 charge for violations by commercial or industrial organizations.
The charges will double for each repeat subsequent offense per calendar year, resetting each January.
Rick Sauer, director of Sampson’s Emergency Services, summarized the spill coordination policy. “Essentially, when the 911 Center receives a report of an animal waste spill, they’ll dispatch first responders, including fire departments, and at least one member of my staff,” he explained. “First responders are gonna arrive at the scene of a spill, determine whether the transporter is present at the scene, or has left the scene of the spill. If the transporter is still on the scene, appropriate enforcement action will be taken by either emergency services, the sheriff’s department, or the state highway patrol. If the transporter’s not on the scene, an attempt to identify that transporter will commence. In either case, a cleanup contractor will be contacted as soon as possible to avoid long-term delays in opening up the roadway.”
Sauer shared that his department has followed the policy twice in the past month, though it was not yet official. “We’ve had two spills this month,” he stated. “We followed a procedure, we were able to identify both transporters who did not stay at the spill. They left the scene. We’ve issued two citations for that. So, we’ve been working closely with the Sheriff’s Department, with the city of Clinton, and so far, it’s been working good.”
Before the commissioners approved the measures, Vann stressed that there may be tweaks needed in the future, and he may come before the board with updated information.
Dist. 3 Commissioner Chip Crumpler asked if any thought had been given to “being a little more aggressive” with fines.
“I would say it’s a stepping stone to that point,” Vann responded.
“There’s fees associated that we will recoup back that we weren’t before,” McLamb clarified. “We were just eating it. And now this way, it’s someone’s paying a bill.”
The ordinance, coordination policy, fee schedule and $25,000 line item were all unanimously approved.