Jimmie Stephens said lots has been accomplished during his tenure on the Jefferson County Commission. But one battle – with illegal dumping – is still being fought.

“When you think of all of the things that we’ve accomplished over the years, this is probably, if not the last, it’s one of the last things that we need to work through,” the commission president said. “We’re looking at different ways to accomplish that.”

During Tuesday’s commission committee meeting, Stephens referenced a note he received from a Hueytown resident. The man hosted an event and it would have been a while before the city crew would return for regular garbage pickup.

Stephens said the man took four bags of garbage to a garbage drop-off site on Bessemer Johns Road. The resident chose not to pay the $32 he would have been charged and took the refuge back home for later pickup.

But, Stephens said, the man could have taken the stance of many who simply leave garbage on the side of the road.

“Can you imagine the number of people who would just say, ‘I’ll just drop it off at the foot of the hill,’” Stephens said. “’I’ll lay it on the side of the road and let someone else worry about it.’ That happens so much right in western Jefferson County.

“If you go out around Pratt City, you go to Mulga, you go around Mulga Loop,” he said, “you go out to any dead-end road and you’re liable to see a couch, a washing machine and tons of garbage. This is an ongoing problem that we’ve had and it’s really the last problem that this commission hasn’t really solved.”

Stephens spoke of the county possibly assessing a garbage fee to combat the littering.

“It’d be up to the commission to vote to determine which one (solution) we decide on,” he said. “It probably will cost the county additional dollars, and it will probably cost the citizens about the same or perhaps a little less as they move forward, but it will be a garbage fee that everyone will participate in.

“The attempt is to remove the excess garbage and trash from the sides of the roads in Jefferson County,” Stephens continued. “People have to take pride in their communities, and this is an important step to make sure that we do.”