New county hire to put a lid on illegal dumpers.

Byline: Matt Cooper The Register-Guard

Illegal dumpers beware - Lane County is coming after you.

Later this year, the county will add a new job to the ranks: nuisance abatement specialist. In other words, "trash cop."

Actually, that description is a bit of a misnomer, because the new hire won't carry a gun or be funded through the sheriff's department, said Jeff Bishop, superintendent of the waste management division.

What the person will do, he added, is police illegal dumping, problem properties and county waste-transfer sites. And he or she will write up perpetrators if gentler efforts fail to win compliance.

"We want to be able to do some patrol work and also respond to citizen complaints about illegal dump sites," Bishop said. "We don't want the small pile of garbage to attract a big pile."

Some may question why the commissioners are adding a job in waste management while preparing to ask voters later this year to support higher taxes for more public-safety personnel.

Bishop said that neither this position nor anything in the waste management division competes with public safety for money. Waste management is funded through the fees paid to handle trash, Bishop said, and those fees may eventually go up to cover the program.

The county has struggled with illegal dumping since 1980, when voters rejected a serial levy that covered the cost to address the problem, Bishop said.

The county established fees to dump at Lane County's transfer stations, but some people opted instead to unload trash for free on quiet back roads. A sheriff's deputy was hired part-time to crack down in 1995, but the program was discontinued four years later.

The new hire will patrol for illegal dumping, check security at county waste-transfer sites and address "nuisance properties" that have an unsightly and potentially hazardous accumulation of trash, appliances and junk vehicles.

The person also will investigate and enforce county rules, issue citations and coordinate cleanup.

The county has earmarked $146,000 to get the program off the ground.

That includes a salary and benefits package of $84,000 (the salary range is $37,300 to $51,800) and $50,000 to clean up dumps.

Bishop can't say what is currently spent on the problem. But the county cleaned up about 20 illegal dumps last year, at costs of $1,000 to $25,000-plus per cleanup.

The key to solving the problem is nabbing the dumper, not just cleaning up the dump.

Bishop plans to team up with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service and local cities to ensure that dumpers don't simply move from one jurisdiction to another. He also hopes to use the latest mapping technology not just to find illegal dumps, but to predict where they're likely to spring up.

Beyond that, Bishop won't say much about problem spots or how to catch the bad guys. Best not to tip off violators. "I'd like them to be as ignorant as possible," Bishop said.

GOT TRASH?

To report an illegal dump in rural Lane County, call 682-4120.