DUMPING FINE MAY INCREASE.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer ROSAMOND - Keeping small trash piles piles: see hemorrhoids. from becoming a major problem, stiffer fines for illegal dumping and a separate administrative hearing administrative hearing n. a hearing before any governmental agency or before an administrative law judge. Such hearings can range from simple arguments to what amounts to a trial. There is no jury, but the agency or the administrative law judge will make a ruling. process for dealing with scofflaws are among the proposals in a program to stop illegal dumping in Kern Kern, river, 155 mi (249 km) long, rising in the S Sierra Nevada Mts., E Calif., and flowing south, then southwest to a reservoir in the extreme southern part of the San Joaquin valley. The river has Isabella Dam as its chief facility. County. The county has earmarked $200,000 for trash cleanup, a fund too small to cover all the needs, so the initial focus will be on spot cleanups - even small trash piles encourage more dumping, said Kern County Supervisor Don Maben. ``Our goal is to keep small piles from becoming big piles,'' Maben said. In preparation for launching the program in January, the Board of Supervisors will vote in late October on changes in the county's ordinances to allow for more aggressive action against illegal dumpers. The ordinance A law, statute, or regulation enacted by a Municipal Corporation. An ordinance is a law passed by a municipal government. A municipality, such as a city, town, village, or borough, is a political subdivision of a state within which a municipal corporation has been changes will include setting up an administrative hearing process to handle suspected illegal-dumping cases instead of trying dumping suspects in the crowded criminal court system, Maben said. The ordinances will include a revision of dumping fines, which are now $100 for a first offense, $200 for the second and $300 for subsequent offenses. The proposed fines would be $250 for a first offense, $500 for the second and $1,000 for subsequent offenses. The county also plans to double the number of waste roundups - in which people are permitted to discard trash for free - in 2004, from two to four in east Kern County, Maben said. The program's $350,000 funding allotment A portion, share, or division. The proportionate distribution of shares of stock in a corporation. The partition and distribution of land. ALLOTMENT. Distribution by lot; partition. Merl. Rep. h.t. - $200,000 for cleanups and $150,000 for the addition of two code enforcements Code Enforcement is the act of enforcing a set of s, principles, or laws (especially written ones) and insuring observance of a system of norms or customs. An authority usually enforces a civil code, a set of rules, or a body of laws and compel those subject to their authority to officers - is woefully woe·ful also wo·ful adj. 1. Affected by or full of woe; mournful. 2. Causing or involving woe. 3. Deplorably bad or wretched: inadequate, Kern County officials said. But the fallout fallout, minute particles of radioactive material produced by nuclear explosions (see atomic bomb; hydrogen bomb; Chernobyl) or by discharge from nuclear-power or atomic installations and scattered throughout the earth's atmosphere by winds and convection currents. from the state budget crisis has made increased funding unfeasible. ``We couldn't have picked a worse budget year,'' said Tina Burke, special projects manager for the county's Resource Management Agency. ``They (the supervisors) all wish we had more money.'' Last year, the county spent $160,000 on removing trash piles, which county officials say addressed less than 1 percent of the total need, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the Resource Management Agency. Other provisions of the program include establishing a hotline for illegal dumping complaints, which would go directly to the Resource Management Agency's code enforcement division; posting of No Dumping signs; the promotion of community volunteer cleanups; and continued public outreach. The program will be evaluated in June, allowing any proposed changes to be included in the 2004-2005 budget, Burke said. Illegal dumping has been a high-profile issue in east Kern County since last fall's supervisor's race, when it was one of Maben's main campaign themes. Maben's first attempt to address the issue, a proposal for mandatory trash collection throughout east Kern County, generated a storm of protest and threats of recall. That proposal was dropped and a county task force was set up to find possible solutions, resulting in the new program. Jim Skeen, (661) 267-5743 james.skeen(at)dailynews.com |
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