Change coming to county trash ordinance

PRESCOTT – There will be no more free ride for churches and deer camps in Nevada County when it comes to getting their trash picked up.

The Nevada County Quorum Court, at its January meeting Tuesday, was informed the county could no longer pick up trash at churches and deer camps at no charge, according to state auditors. Ricky Reyenga, county treasurer, said the state mandates county equipment can’t be used for public service without getting paid. The county’s existing ordinance on trash pickup gave exemptions to deer camps and churches in the county, along with businesses in the county.

The justices debated options on how to broach the situation, finally agreeing to make everyone pay. However, churches and deer camps will only be required to pay 50 percent of what county residents pay. Initially, though, the discussion centered around simply not picking up trash at these locations and having the churches and camp owners take care of the trash themselves, or simply removing them from the trash roll altogether. Still, those running the county trash trucks don’t have route sheets showing the location of the churches and camps and if trash is left by the road, it will be picked up..

Reyenga said this will be advertised in the paper, and trash bills are being mailed this month. A new ordinance concerning this will be drafted for the court to approve at its February meeting. Once approved, all churches and deer camps in the county will be required to pay $50 a year for trash collection.

Nevada County Judge Mike Otwell informed the court the county will be getting $359,000 for Arkansas State Aid Road Construction this year, and the county’s portion will be 10 percent, or $35,900.

In other business, the court voted to pay more than $5,000 in vet bills for the care of horses rescued. The horses were picked up by the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office and cared for by Powell-Perry Veterinary Clinic. The court didn’t discuss how many horses were involved, but did mention they were cared for at $15 per day.

The court also approved giving all fire departments in the county $3,000 from the American Recovery Plan Act funds. This will amount to $30,000.

Mary Godwin, executive director of the Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office, informed the court she’s been talking with the new manager of Bojangle’s at Love’s 2 about getting bone-in chicken because of high demand. This is being looked into on the corporate level.

She told the court there will be a public meeting at 11 a.m. on Jan. 19 at the Nevada County Library on broadband with representatives from ARConnect on hand to discuss where things stand. She said a draft copy of the digital skills of residents has been released and shows the computer skill level of people in the state. According to the report, 274,000 people in the state have little or no computer skills.

Godwin said trainings will be made available for these people later on, as infrastructure must come first so people have access to broadband internet. She added $1 billion is being spent on infrastructure in the state with an additional $20 million available for curriculum. Nevada County, she continued, has a good chance of getting a lot of grant money in the future, but locations for training will be needed.