(8/18) A year ago, the Carroll Valley Borough Council discussed the potential removal of two services provided to the residents of Carroll Valley: the yard waste disposal site and the waste oil disposal receptacle. The topic was once again brought up during the August Borough Council meeting.

Back in late March, Ground Solutions Inc. collected the looming pile of yard waste material in order to grind it up and use it for mulch. The company charged the Borough $8,500 to remove the waste. Now, five months later, the pile has once again grown to the size that it had previously been in the spring. The Borough is faced with the same decision that they were a year ago: should they terminate the services or should they look into other avenues to monitor the site in order to discourage improper dumping.

Many Carroll Valley residents utilize these services properly, and are grateful that the Borough provides them. However, there has also been an increasing amount of improper usage by non-residents, specifically commercial dumping by contractors performing work in Carroll Valley and the surrounding areas. Borough Manager Dave Hazlett noted that the yard waste pile no longer consists of exclusively yard waste, but it has also been filled with debris from larger non-decomposable materials such as decks, appliances, lumbar etc. Additionally, other members of the community are dumping non-oil products such as antifreeze into the waste oil tank, which causes aggravation when trying to dispose of the filled tank, because the used oil is compromised once mixed with other products. These larger materials dumped by contractors and the misuse of the oil disposal tank will cost the Borough extra space and money, to truck out and dispose of.

The possibility of placing security cameras and extra lighting and signage has been discussed several times in the past year, but has been passed over. Additional signage and security cameras would aid the Borough in monitoring all who utilize the yard waste and oil waste disposal site. However, one downside to using security cameras is the potential difficulty in identifying offenders. Unless a license plate is caught on camera, identification of people and tracking them down may be difficult.

Council members have also discussed suspending the services, because it may be too costly for the Borough to continue providing them. However, Borough staff and Council understand that the absence of the services would be most likely be frowned upon community wide. For now, Borough staff will put together price quotes to install security cameras at the waste removal site and look into additional signage to warn commercial vehicles that they may not use the site.