LAWTON – Litter scattered along roads in the vicinity of the municipal sanitary landfill south of town has been a persistent – and expensive – problem for years. The City Council recently directed city staff to provide them with potential options for addressing this nagging issue.
At its meeting on July 13, 2021, the City Council adopted an ordinance to require all transported refuse to be covered and secured. It decrees:
“No person shall operate on any roadway within the City of Lawton any vehicle with any load of refuse … unless said load is secured and covered so as to prevent the blowing, falling, leaking, or escaping of any portion of said load from the vehicle and becoming a hazard to other users of the roadway or a nuisance to the community. All loads of refuse transported to the landfill that are not properly secured and covered or are otherwise in violation of this section will be assessed additional charges…”
The ordinance was intended to reduce litter along city streets, particularly SW 11th Street leading to the landfill.
Patrons who bring uncovered or unsecured loads to the landfill are charged $28.75.
A resolution presented to the council last week proposed raising that fee to $100 for residential loads and $200 for commercial loads (those hauled by any vehicle larger than one ton or a vehicle with commercial markings or tags).
“We’re spending $100,000 a year to pick up trash up and down 11th Street,” Mayor Stan Booker said, and Acting City Manager John Ratliff confirmed that figure.
There’s also a lot of illegal dumping in the Lawton View area off of SW 11th Street between Lee Boulevard and Bishop Road, Councilwoman Onreka Johnson said.
“I see unsecured loads every day,” said Councilman Randy Warren, who supported increasing the fee. And Councilman Allan Hampton said he thinks many are repeat offenders.
The council also noted that a traffic fatality in Comanche County last year was attributed to an unsecured load and resulted in a felony criminal charge.
When asked whether the Lawton Police Department enforces the 2021 ordinance, Police Chief James Smith said, “Our traffic unit has been on 11th Street several times to abate the litter.” The department is “doing enforcement action on 11th Street from time to time.”
Smith said that cameras which snap photographs of motor vehicle license plates – used in tracking stolen vehicles and for collecting turnpike tolls – could, if installed at various locations on county roads near the landfill, be used to track vehicles transporting unsecured loads.
Public Works Director Larry Wolcott said that some patrons who arrive at the landfill with unsecured loads of debris refuse to pay the $28.75, turn around and leave. When asked why those drivers aren’t stopped at the gate, Wolcott said, “We have no authority to detain someone who has an unsecured load and decides to turn around and leave.”
“But you could call the police,” Booker said.
“This occurs maybe 20 times a month,” Wolcott responded.
“There’s got to be enough punishment to make it work,” Booker insisted.
“The answer probably should be fining the ones who are not obeying the law, not raising the fee for the people who follow the law,” Ratliff recommended.
The council wants city staff to present them with options that include higher fines, cameras, and perhaps an enforcement officer.
Wolcott told the council that the state Department of Environmental Quality will award several grants next year. One of those grants is for an Environmental Officer to curtail illegal dumping. Usually those funds are used to help pay the salary of one part-time environmental officer and to pay for equipment, labor and other costs needed to clean up dump sites, DEQ reported.
“Typically those grants are awarded to counties rather than cities, but Lawton may apply,” Erin Hatfield, director of DEQ’s Office of Communications & Education, told Southwest Ledger. The next grant application window tentatively will be open in December 2023 through February 2024 for DEQ’s 2025 fiscal year (July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025), the agency announced on its website.