Jasper mayor asks for residents' input on brush removal

The Jasper City Hall in downtown Jasper, Tenn.
The Jasper City Hall in downtown Jasper, Tenn.

JASPER, Tenn. - Residents in Jasper are running up a steep bill each month for brush removal, and now Mayor Paul Evans wants input about how best to solve the problem.

At the August meeting of the Jasper Board of Mayor and Aldermen, Evans said he wants citizen comments and suggestions about the issue because city workers are picking up brush two or three weeks per month, which is wearing out equipment and manpower and taking time away from other important jobs.

"Nobody pays for that," he said. "We don't charge for brush pickup, but it's gotten so out of hand that we've got a lot of commercial people cutting down trees and piling them out there and expecting us to pick it up."

Right now, Evans said, city workers use a backhoe to pick up the brush, but that machine has broken down twice in the last four months because it was not made to do that job every day.

He suggested Jasper purchase a new "brush truck" for an estimated $135,000.

"It's made for that," Evans said. "It would haul four times as much as our little dump truck does."

A brush truck, which is a long dump truck with an extension arm attached to grab and place debris, could be operated by one worker, instead of the current three or four city employees.

"If we buy a brush truck, we can get another five or six years out of that backhoe, maybe longer, because it will only do what it's supposed to be doing - cleaning out ditches," Evans said.

A new backhoe would cost an estimated $85,000, he said.

When city workers pick up brush just 10 days per month, Evans said Jasper spends $16,000 to do it, or about $192,000 per year.

Evans suggested that if Jasper bought the new truck, the board could vote to add $2 per month onto residents' bills, which would bring in an estimated $36,000 per year, and that could be used to pay for the new equipment.

However, that potential move could violate a current city ordinance.

In 1994, city administrators decided to eliminate two days of garbage pickup per week in exchange for removing residents' brush once a month.

They put that in the form of a city ordinance, which also includes restrictions on the brush removal.

It mandates that the debris may be no longer than 36 inches, must be bundled, and may not exceed 75 pounds.

One resident at the meeting complained that the city continues to pick up brush that violates that ordinance and said residents shouldn't have to pay if Jasper doesn't stick to the rules of the statute.

"We're not obligated to pick up any brush at all," Evans replied to the resident. "We do it, but I'm going to tell you, if we don't do it, everybody in here is going to be calling."

According to the current ordinance, Jasper is required to pick up residents' brush.

Alderman Josh Jennings said if the town stops picking up brush, it would cause even more problems than Jasper has now removing it.

"I, for one, live in the city for services such as brush pickup and garbage pickup and sewer," he said. "What if we don't pick it up? It's going to be one big mess after another."

Another option, Evans said, would be to charge for brush removal within city property taxes.

"Our property tax rate is nothing compared around," he said. "Our property tax rate is 41 cents [per $100]. It brings in $498,000 [per year]. We don't want to raise property taxes. We want to keep property taxes down as low as we can for as long as we can."

Evans called the matter "food for thought" for Jasper residents.

"I'm asking for a comment from people," he said. "Bring it in. My door is always open. Come in. Let's sit down and talk about it. Talk to your board members. We've got to do something right now."

Ryan Lewis is based in Marion County. Contact him at ryanlewis34@gmail.com.

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