Pell City is initiating a massive, citywide cleanup in an effort to both beatify the city and make sure that area litterbugs know that there is a price to pay for their actions.

Pell City’s Cleanup Task Force will be looking for more than litter. A broad range of projects including condemned buildings and overgrown properties is also on the list. A meeting will be held today at 1:00 p.m. in the council chambers of City Hall outlining the city’s plan for the project. After the completion of the cleanup, a landscaping project will begin starting with Highways 231 and 78.

On Monday, February 2, the kickoff of the Pell City Cleanup Task Force will begin. Breakfast will be served at the Community Center on 19th Street. Gloves and bags will be passed out and participants will be assigned to groups.

All departments will be involved: fire, street, police, parks and recreation, water, sanitation and the City Clerk’s Office. Citizens who wish to participate are encouraged to contact City Hall at 338-3330 or the police department at 884-3334.

“Work-release inmates and the sheriff’s department will also be involved in the clean up,” said Police Chief Greg Turley.

“It’s amazing how excited people are to get this started. It makes me excited. I don’t know of a person that we have talked to that has turned us down yet,” said City Councilman James McGowan.

At noon, all trash will be place beside the roll off dumpster at the Civic Center so that the news media can take pictures and an estimate of cubic yards will be given.

Lunch for participants will be served at the Civic Center and the cleanup will continue until 4:00 p.m.

Kids, 18 and under, will be required to have a parent or guardian sign a permission slip. They will only be allowed on back streets for safety reasons. For high school juniors and seniors, signup sheets and permission slips are available at the Pell City High School.

“We have a map of where everybody is going to be on kickoff day,” said McGowan.

Pell City Fire Department will be in charge of Highway 78 from Riverside city limits to Highway 120 in Eden. They will also clean up Mays Bend Road and Stemley Bridge Road from the fork at Mays Bend to the Talladega city limits.

Park and Recreation Department will be on Cropwell Drive and parts of King’s Circle.

Waste Water Treatment Plant will be in charge of Golf Course Road from Hamilton Road to Church Road.

Pell City Street Department will be covering multiple locations: Forrest Hills, Glenn City, St. Paul Street and Miracle Street.

The cleanup will continue after the first day. McGowan said, “Want to do this for about two weeks.”

Curtis Capps has donated around 200 barrels to distribute around the city. They will have labels with the cleanup effort logo. People are encouraged to put their car garbage in these barrels.

There will be a PowerPoint presentation prepared comparing before and after then followed up periodically. “They will go back twelve days later and show how many bags they took and how many hours it took them,” said Amber Mikell. This will be available on the new city website.

McGowan said that after the new city website is launched, “We are going to work it through our new website. They can go online say who you are, what area you want to pick up, how many people there are going to be and when.”

After the program begins, Pell City police officers will be on vigilant patrol looking for litter offenders.

Turley said that there will be strong enforcement, “We are eager to get kicked off, I’m telling my guys to wait until we get it out there through the media and let everybody know what is going to happen and I am here to tell you we are going to follow through on our end. There is going to be teeth in it, there is going to be enforcement. Officers are looking for big stuff and small stuff.”

In addition, Turley said that Municipal Judge Lance Bell is considering enhanced fines for offenders and that community service would probably involve assignment of cleanup in the area the offense took place.

“A lot of people don’t know that there is something in police work called ‘crime causation.’ It’s a broken window theory, in this case litter begets litter begets litter. Those areas where there are decrepit houses with junk cars in the yard, actually increases crime. By doing things [like this cleanup] you reduce crime. And it’s more than just that the city looks nice, the revenues increase,” said Turley.

McGowan spoke with Veolia and they assured him, “Everything you need for right now we are going to do [under the current contract].”

The dumpsters will be monitored so that after the initial cleanup they will know where to concentrate the dumpsters. Some areas will require more than others.

The [barrels of] garbage will be brought back to the city shop where Veolia will pick it up.

According to McGowan, “City Councilman Donnie Guin has spoken with Dr. Bobby Hathcock, [superintendent of the Pell City Board of Education], about the children at the alternative school. They are going to be loaded up on a school bus and brought here so we can use them picking up litter. It will part of their community service. We need to find chaperones that will be out there with them.”

The building department will also be involved heavily in the cleanup effort. Buildings that need removal will be identified and demolished whether by the owner or the city.

Pell City Ordinance No 2001-1589, Sec. 11-20 states, “Premises to be kept free of garbage, weeds, and dead animals.”

“…Garbage on any outside premises including porches and carports to include old furniture, appliances or other non-decorative items but not to include children’s swings and other climbing toys,” according to this ordinance.

About weeds, shrubs and other vegetable growth it states, “…to fail to keep and maintain the [yard] free from injurious, noxious or unsightly weeds, shrubs and other vegetable or grass growth higher than 12 inches. As used herein, ‘weed’ shall include an economically useless plant.”

Any property failing to meet the guidelines will be declared a public nuisance and the person in charge of the property will be given a notice to clean up the problem within 10 days. “We even post two notices. One telling them what they need to do and the other is the ordinance,” said Paul Story, building inspector.

If the property owner does not complete the tasks in 10 days, the street department will be assigned the task and the property owner will be billed for the expense. If the city does not receive payment of said expenses “such person shall be guilty of a misdemeanor,” stated in Ordinance No. 2001-1589, Section 11-21. The city will then place a lien upon the property until the costs have been paid.

The same procedure applies to buildings condemned by the city and ordered for demolition. If a property owner fails to demolish the building and the city deems it a danger to human life or health the City Council will have it removed and bill the property owner. If this cost is not paid the city may “elect to have the tax collector or revenue commissioner collect the assessment by adding the assessment to the tax bill [ad valorem],” stated in Ordinance No. 2001-1590, Section 5-26.

“All of these [ordinances] have been in place, they just haven’t been enforced,” said McGowan.

As part of an ongoing effort, McGowan plans on getting churches involved. He said, “I’m going to going around to churches for elderly people who can clean up their place. We plan to take a group of deacons and clean up that property for them. I know that with elderly people there is just so much they can do. I want to make this a part the program. And it’s the right thing to do.”

They are asking for the citizens to get involved by reporting offenders.

“We all see people, we get behind them. You may see someone in a parking lot leave trash out of their car. Kids throw beer cans out of the car before they get home,” said Turley.

He said Pell City residents are encouraged to call the tipline, 338-8899 or police dispatch, 884-3333. He said, “People can go to pellcitypolice@yahoo.com and tell us what is going on so we can target those areas.”

The information that the police will need includes a tag number, a description of the person and the location. “If we make contact with them we can make the case. If we don’t make contact then we look up that tag number and send a letter to the registered owner.” He thinks this will also deter teenagers whose parents may receive one of these letters explaining the offense and the possible punishment.

Residents are encouraged to bag their trash reducing what gets blown around in neighborhoods.

Large items that need disposal can be taken to the city shop on 19th Street. “We can take mattresses and old refrigerators at the shop,” said McGowan.

Paul Boyle, street department, said, “We can take everything and anything but yard debris, lumber, oil-based chemical [paint] and car/truck batteries. Batteries can be taken to the scrap yard. There is one on 16th Street and there is one in Ashville. Paint cans have an 800 number for proper disposal.”

“We are going to start taking tires. Veolia said that they can take them if they are cut up into four pieces,” McGowan said. The city is looking into the equipment required to prepare the tires for disposal.

After the cleanup, a landscaping project will begin. “Funds are being collected to assist in areas that might need professional attention such as pruning of city trees and shrubs. This program will be a part of our budget,” McGowan said.

The city is having a landscaping rendering prepared to show how the thoroughfares will be redesigned. They are also collecting funds that will be designated for additional trees, shrubs and flowers.