Over 12,000 pounds of garbage – that’s how much trash was picked up along Walker County roads in the month of January alone, according to Commissioner Shannon Whitfield.
And that, he said, is just the beginning.
Cleaning up the county, both aesthetically and in terms of policing, has been a major focus of the Wilson Road Neighborhood Group since residents came together to form it in March 2016. At the group’s meeting earlier this month, Whitfield laid out a series of changes to codes enforcement, building inspection and zoning within the county that will help further part of that goal.
Among them are changing when the codes enforcement office can investigate or contact property owners, moving the codes enforcement office to Rock Spring, which he said is more accessible than its current location at 91 Industrial Drive in Chickamauga. The current location is closed on Fridays, and because of a locking gate on the road, people can’t always get to the office. The new Rock Spring office will be open five days a week, and will be hiring more officers to inspect property.
Whitfield said these changes are in response to the sheer number of out-of-compliance properties in the county, and the “staggering” amount of garbage and tires the county has collected since he took office Jan. 1.