The city of Chattanooga may be poised to hire over a dozen people for its first official litter cleanup crew.
As part of an initial budget proposal, the Public Works Department would add 19 new crew members to its payroll with the specific job of going out and cleaning up the city each day, according to a Tuesday afternoon presentation.
The broader municipal budget will have to be approved by the end of June by the Chattanooga City Council, but in the meantime, the department is drafting a plan for how the litter crew will approach operations, said council member Ron Elliott of Missionary Ridge.
“These 19 folks’ sole job is to do nothing but worry about how we keep Chattanooga clean, keep Chattanooga beautiful,” Elliott said by phone, “and start showing folks that we really have some skin in the game when it comes to stewardship of our city.”
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Elliott originally spearheaded a proposal in early March to look at how public works could use stormwater fees to fund a litter crew.
The city charges property owners stormwater fees based on how much of their land might contribute to flooding. Those dollars are supposed to funnel into stormwater infrastructure and projects.
Because litter in Chattanooga waterways causes problems, Elliott has said, allotting dollars for a litter cleanup crew would be an appropriate use of that money. Stormwater dollars are underused in his view, he said.
Right now, trash on roads or public property is handled by a team within the Public Works Department, though those staffers are responsible for a variety of other duties, like brush pickup. The litter crew would be a team solely dedicated to trash across the city each day, Elliott said.
Ideally, he said, once the money is allotted for the positions and the crew is hired, the staffers would be able to go out to specific zones of the city every week and perhaps eventually respond to complaint calls as well.
“They’re going to be backlogged,” Elliott said. “There’s a lot of stuff that needs to be cleaned up.”
(READ MORE: Officials: Chattanooga litter problem is everyone’s responsibility)
He’d also like to see city code enforcement officers get involved, Elliott said, and move people through the legal process of violations for significant trash on their private property. Then, the city could also have a litter crew help with cleanup on private property in specific cases involving serious violations, he said.
Over 400 litter code violations have been reported in 2026, according to city data.
During Tuesday’s budget session, council member Jenny Hill of North Chattanooga also suggested the Public Works Department consider offering grants to small local organizations for community litter cleanup events. That could help further engage neighborhoods and make everyone responsible for living in a clean city, Hill said.
“I think there’s a real place of pride and purpose to see your community getting better by your own hand,” Hill said during the meeting.
Contact city and county reporter Siena Duncan at sduncan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.