The Lamar County Board of Supervisors is considering a separate burning ordinance in the county; violators who fail to follow the regulations could be arrested. The supervisors are expected to consider the revisions at their March 2 meeting.
The board received preliminary drafts of several ordinance changes at its meeting on Feb. 20 at the William J. “Pete” Gamble III Chancery Courthouse in Purvis. However, putting teeth in enforcement of the proposed burning ordinance received strong responses from Board President Warren Byrd.
“We had a man burning chemicals on a permitted recyclable site,” he said. “We’ve caught him twice, and (the Mississippi Department of Environment Quality) honestly hasn’t done anything about it. We had pictures of the man doing it, and we were told, ‘Well, he said he wouldn’t do it again.’ Moving forward, if it happens again, we are going to give him a citation or a certificate.”
County Administrator Joseph “Jody” Waits said the new burning ordinance would be stronger than the current regulations.
“It increases the fines and the penalties if you violate the ordinance,” he said. “That’s the suggestion, that’s what has been handed out, and that’s what they are considering.”
Waits said the new ordinance would strengthen enforcement on the types of illegal burning that has been found in the county.
“There have been occasions that people burn things that they shouldn’t burn,” he said. “We’re not trying to say that you can’t rake leaves and burn them in your yard, or that if you’re clearing property you can’t burn on it. However, if you’re burning and the wind is blowing directly into your neighbor’s yard where a child with asthma lives, that’s a problem that we don’t want.”
The types of illegal burn materials is obvious, Waits said.
“We don’t want people to burn things like shingles or recyclables,” he stated. “We are operating a recycling center. If you are permitted to dispose of it properly, you can’t dispose of it by setting tires on fire; that has happened.”
Code Enforcement Officer Mike David said the sheriff’s office could arrest violators under the proposed ordinance.
“In the past, we have had people who have wanted to burn large quantities of trash in the county,” he noted. “This (proposed) ordinance actually gives the authority to the sheriff’s office or myself to enforce the ordinance. It doesn’t have anything to do with burn bans or arson; that’s a separate thing. This is basically somebody burning a truckload of tires in their backyard. The sheriff’s office would have the authority to arrest someone.”
Waits said to go into detail about the proposed ordinance would be preliminary.
“I would say they would likely take some action at the next meeting,” he said. “Right now it’s a draft and it’s still in Council form. It would be confusing to be put out there.”
Also during the meeting, Senior Planner Michael Hershman presented updates to several ordinances for consideration by the supervisors. Changes were proposed to the Zoning Ordinance, Subdivision, Site Plan, Sewer Land Application, and Storm Water ordinances.
Waits said a couple of changes stood out during the discussion.
“All of the potential updates to subdivision zoning, site plan ordinances are beneficial,” he said. “One of the highlights would be changing enforcement of violations of storm water runoff. We cite them, they go to Justice Court and get a fine. We go out the next day, and it hasn’t been corrected; we have to go back out and write the citation again. We suggest that we change our language so it’s only one citation.
Waits said the changes were introduced to allow the supervisors to consider the changes.
“At the next meeting, you can ask all of your questions and we can set a public hearing,” he told the supervisors. “The public will need to know what you are going to change.”