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Roanoke takes away dumpsters from town hall lot

The Roanoke Town Council voted to have dumpsters removed from the town hall parking lot at its meeting on Tuesday, July 2.

Paid for by the Huntington County Commissioners, the dumpsters are for recyclable materials, such as plastic, glass and paper. Unfortunately, though, says council, non-recyclable items are deposited in, and around, the dumpsters on a regular basis. Discarded items have included TVs, furniture, paint cans and steel, the board notes. As the dumpsters have been receiving both recyclable and non-recyclable items, they are often overflowing with refuse, says Council Vice President Troy Karshner.

“Right now, it just makes the town look like crap,” he says.

To abate the problem, council decided it would be for the best if the dumpsters were taken out. To that end, council directed Superintendent of Operations Phil Hibbert to contact the commissioners and request that action.

Councilman Ryan Carroll expressed disappointment that the posted guidelines for the dumpsters were not followed.

“A few people ruined it for everyone,” he says.

“If it was overflowing with plastics and recyclable stuff, I don’t think I’d be sitting here complaining,” Carroll added. “I’d be saying, ‘We need to get another dumpster.’”

Once the dumpsters are removed, council will post a sign at the site directing residents to an alternative recycling drop-off site. Alternative sites are located in Huntington at the Solid Waste Management building, 515S-300W, and the Memorial Park service building, 1205 W. Park Drive. In addition to recyclables, items such as electronics and batteries are accepted at the Solid Waste Management building. For a full list of what items are accepted at the building, call 358-4886.

On another matter, council restated that no signs should be posted in the triangular piece of land between Locust Drive’s connection points with U.S.-24. The board stated that its reason for barring signs from the land was due to a liability concern for the town.

“Even though you could pull up and see around (a sign), if there was an accident out there, all somebody would have to say is, ‘Hey, there was a sign up there; I couldn’t see,’” said Council President Dave Tucker.

Council will still allow signs to be posted on the corner of Main and Vine streets, which has been a popular location for sign placement in town.

The board did note, though, that it would be monitoring the land and would consider imposing size limits on the signs posted there, as well as a time limit on how long the signs could be up.

In other business:

– Brandon Taylor, chief of the Roanoke Volunteer Fire Department, stated that he had prospective buyers lined up for the department’s 701 and 702 fire engines. He also noted that the department’s quint truck was in service.

– Dave Meitzler, of the Roanoke Park Board, reported that the board had developed a five-year improvement plan for the park. Among the improvements called for in the plan are the implementation of a grass infield in the large ball diamond and the installation of disc golf infrastructure.

– Hibbert informed council that it needed to start considering putting a new roof on the town hall building, noting that he had observed water damage to the ceiling.