City, county look to strike deal to curb landfill – The Selma Times‑Journal

The city of Selma plans to enter into an agreement with Dallas County that will help eliminate illegal dumping within the city.

Officer John Creel, director of the county’s environmental protection department, approached the Selma City Council during a work session Thursday with a proposal to work together to eliminate five illegal dumps he had already identified.

Creel said county officials acted in good faith, cleaning up one site already, where more than 27 bags of trash were collected.

Creel said county officials can apply for grants through the Alabama Department of Environmental Management to help them clean up some of the sites, especially those that require a contractor to come in and pick up the trash.

Any areas that are to be cleaned would be monitored by video cameras to make sure they remain clean. The city and county would share the cost of obtaining the grant.

“Yes, we are monitoring it,” Creel said. “They will put cameras there because we will be enforcing the law. So you have to be aware that you will have to do this when it starts, if I catch them. I intend to pursue.”

The council asked Creel if this would result in them being eligible to receive tickets from ADEM, but Creel stated that was not ADEM’s goal.

“ADEM’s primary goal is to help clean up the site, but EPA believes that some of these sites, both in the county and the city, are going to be a problem for all of us,” Creel said.

Creel said they were able to recover more than 4,000 tires that were illegally dumped around the county.

Council President Pro Tempore Clay Carmichael said the issue would need to be addressed at a regular meeting. Creel said it would also need to be approved by the Dallas County Commission.