img 8277Silver City Police Department Officer Manny Jaure talks about enforcement.By Mary Alice Murphy

Silver City Mayor Ken Ladner began the program for the Pick It Up and Toss No Más kickoff held Sept. 25, 2018. "This is the introduction to our new initiative to clean up Silver City."

He noted that President Joseph Shepard at Western New Mexico University has been a great partner to the town of Silver City.

"Our program is not designed to take anything away from other programs that pick up litter," Ladner said. "This initiative is designed to be sustainable. Over the past six months, I've been involved with the monthly Monday with the Mayor meetings with citizens. Three ladies told me sternly: 'You must do something about the litter in our community. We want to help.'

"Assistant Town Manager James Marshall has done some successful projects, so he had a meeting with the ladies and others," Ladner continued. "They talked about possibilities."

He noted it's a volunteer program. "We want you to go back to your organizations and talk about how you can contribute to the beautification of the town. We don't get a second chance to make a first impression. About 74 percent of our budget comes from gross receipts taxes on purchases, lodging and restaurants."

Ladner said that Nick Seibel, Silver City Daily Press publisher, came to him and offered suggestions. Town Clerk Ann Mackie and Ralph Gauer have been developing a website. "My wife, Becky, has been key to this initiative, and happy birthday to her today. She suggested the Pick It Up part, so we combined it with the stop tossing trash part."

He acknowledge Town Manager Alex Brown for the financial help and the new program "Cover Your Load."

"We ask you to make a commitment—weekly, bi-weekly or monthly," Ladner said.

Brown said the Cover Your Load was a proactive initiative addressing uncovered loads going to the landfill. "One aspect of it is enforcement. The court system will hand down judgements and the landfill will report. We've been working on what we can do with the landfill. We've been working with enforcement and the magistrate courts. We will still accept uncovered loads, because if we don't, they will take it down the road and dump illegally."

Silver City Police Department Officer Manny Jaure said he had met with the magistrate judge. "When we issue a citation for an uncovered load, if the person buys a tarp from the landfill and presents it to the magistrate court, the person will get a Fix It ticket and not have to pay. But the person cannot do it four or five times. They have to use the tarp to cover their load."

Brown said, so far, the initiative has only been discussed with the Silver City Police Department personnel. "We will work with the Grant County Sheriff's Office and the Mining District municipalities and with the convenience stations to get this implemented. We are pushing toward education rather than penalty and enforcement."

Jaure said he had already issued several citations.

Mayor Pro Tem Cynthia Bettison said that if contractors deliver uncovered loads, it will be between the officer, the judge and the contractor to work something out.

A man in the audience asked about trash blowing out of the landfill.

"We have hired clean up crews to go up and down Ridge Road to pick up trash that blows out of the landfill," Brown said.

An audience member asked if the landfill would be doing enforcement, to which Brown said no.

A woman suggested that signage be added along Hudson Street reminding people to cover their loads.

"Two will be up within the next few days," Marshall confirmed, "and others near the landfill.

"We would like to track the effects of the initiative," Marshall said, "so we know how much you pick up and what types of trash it was. There will be zones based on major highways. You select a zone and sign up and then go out and pick up trash. We have a phone number to call when you leave bags along the road and we will come pickthem up. Each zone is about two-tenths of a mile long. You can get bags and orange vests for when you are picking up. Please return the vests and the full garbage bags."

Mackie said users of the website should click on the red box to select different zones. A list of zones is on the website. But people can pick anywhere to pick up trash.

Marshall presented an app to help the town track the progress. The Litterati app allows people to give feeback and suggestions to Mackie.

He showed a flyer designed with the assistance of the Gila Resources Information Project. And a link to the initiative is on the town of Silver City website.

Brown said the multiple people may adopt the same zones. "We will be able to track by the calls for bag pickup."

Marshall said the town will also have a discussion on recognition for those who pick up the most. A man suggested that incentivizing people might be effective.

A woman asked how to find if zones are being ignored. That can be found out in the app.

Marshall noted that the app can be slow because it is a worldwide app, "but it will help us. We can probably consider policy changes about using the app."

Ladner acknowledged Lee Gruber, co-owner of Sygyzy Tiles with her huband David DelJunco, as an early proponent of picking up trash. She said Ann Lowe and she had planned the photo of the pickup with a covered load.

"It's not just picking up trash," Ladner said. "Painting a fence is also beautification."

Brown said that everything collected in the program is not being separated out for recycling, but is just being put in the landfill.

To access the website, go to http://pickitupsc.com

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