City ready to enforce trash container ordinance

Gladewater City Hall’s ready to put some bite behind its rules for trash containers – there’s still a grace period ahead, but the clock is ticking.
Mayor Scott Owens addressed the issue as local elected officials mulled their consent agenda during last week’s regularly-scheduled city council meeting. He held up a bright warning tag, and there are plenty to go around. Residents might receive one if they put their trash containers out too soon before garbage collection or wheel their container in too late after Republic Services employees are finished with their pickups.
“We do have in-hand some orange stickers that will be going on the trash cans this week,” Owens told the audience in the council chambers Oct. 19. “These are a warning, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be ignored. There will be tickets issued if we need to get compliance with this.”
Such tickets could be as much as $500 for violators. Enforcement has been lax for some time, but as more and more people flaunt the restrictions and complaints pile up, city personnel will be making the rounds in weeks ahead.
“We want people to be putting the trash cans back up by 9 p.m. the day it’s picked up,” Owens noted. “And, not put them out five days early. Put them out the night before or early that morning.”
Find details on the city’s municipal regulations at tinyurl.com/gladewatercodes.
According to Owens, “It’s about making the city better for our visitors and everybody who lives here.”