According to the 2012 Lincoln County litter survey, Lincoln County is cleaner than it’s been in years.

     “We just almost do not find severely littered spots anymore,” said Homer Richardson, spokesman for Keep Lincoln County Beautiful, at the supervisors meeting on Monday.

     He praised local citizens for their cleanliness and litter awareness. He said one of the main issues is corn seed bags flying out of truck beds; however, conscious littering has decreased greatly.

     “I really think we’ve had a cultural change in this county over the last 13 years,” said Richardson.

     In years past, leftover deer parts from local hunters have been a problem. Deer hunters drop off their extra parts especially near low water bridges.

     “This year, we’re not seeing that like we have in the past, which is really good news,” said Richardson.

     On a rating scale from one to four, Brookhaven scored a 1 in 2011, with one being no litter. For 2012, the county also scored a one, down from the two in 2000, with two being slightly littered.

     “We’ve seen a steady improvement all throughout the county,” said Richardson.

     The survey is conducted by people evaluating pre-selected sites from year to year to evaluate the amount of litter evident and assigning a number. Four is the highest number, signifying severely littered.

     Richardson said cut-through roads are the worst when it comes to litter. However, he commented that Lincoln County citizens do not usually litter where an area has been cleaned.

     “We can get ahead of it by catching any hot spots that come up,” said Richardson.

     Solid Waste Litter Control Coordinator Ronnie Durr mentioned an issue with homemade garbage boxes in the county.

     “Some of them are just in bad shape,” said Durr.

     Some county residents create boxes out of wire, tin, wood, etc. It is difficult to empty these boxes because of their fragile condition. If workers tried to pick the boxes up, the containers would most likely be destroyed.

     “I’m very reluctant to deal with some of these boxes that are in bad shape,” said Durr.

     Even asking inmates to deal with the homemade boxes would be an issue because of the dilapidated condition some of the garbage disposals are in.

     The supervisors decided that Durr would report each issue to the appropriate supervisor and go from there.

     Also mentioned in the meeting was the final amount spent on debris removal due to Hurricane Isaac. The total came to $428,383.51.

     In other business, engineer Jeff Dungan discussed the renovation of the Keystone-Seneca building.

     The building will be remodeled and the possibility of Waste Pro using the facility was mentioned.

     Lincoln County supervisors have been trying to find a use for the building since inheriting the property about three years ago. Keystone-Seneca closed its doors in 2007 and supervisors canceled the company’s lease in late 2008 after the building had sat vacant for over a year. Keystone sent a late payment to continue its lease, but the check was returned and the property remains in the county’s hands.

     Lincoln County Chancery Clerk Tillmon Bishop expressed excitement over the project.

     “We haven’t had a reasonable decent project for that building in 20 years,” said Bishop.