From The Press of Atlantic City — County officials want the Township Committee to be more appreciative of the county services the township receives instead of publicly complaining about what does not get done.
The committee voted last month to call upon Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson to do something to rid the township of the “unsightly” debris that lines county roads in the township.
“(The county workers) aren’t picking the trash up. They’re just mowing it over and blowing it into the woods,” Committeeman Bernard Graebener said in May. “You can walk out there and see the trash is all cut up.”
Graebener, who drafted the letter to Levinson, claimed multiple calls to the county to correct the problem were futile. The letter was signed by Graebener and Committeeman Michael St. Amour.
The complaint drew a strongly worded response from Atlantic County Administrator Gerald Del Rosso.
“You could have picked up the phone like you did when you needed our assistance with the potential solid waste facility on Route 30 proposed by Southern Rail and its local partners,” Del Rosso wrote in a letter to Graebener and St. Amour dated May 28, adding the county was praised for its efforts in preventing the waste transfer station. “In addition, there doesn’t appear to be any futility when Mullica asked the county to help with the tire clean up and when the County’s Division of Public Health acquired an extra $50,000, in addition to the $217,000 from a prior Mullica tire remediation.”
Del Rosso argued the county’s Public Works Department not only responded to each of the township’s complaints, but was also productive when it did.
So far this year, according to Del Rosso, the county has been to Mullica to pick up roadside trash six times, resulting in 72 bags of trash and recyclable materials being collected.
Del Rosso suggested the township do a better job of controlling its own trash problems.
“How many landowners/ homeowners have you written/cited for litter/debris on their property? As that debris moves/blows around, a once clean road now becomes litter-strewn,” he said. “Has your police department cited anything for throwing trash outside their cars? Counties have no authority on the enforcement side.”
Del Rosso said Wednesday that he was “very unhappy” that members of the Township Committee spoke negatively about the efforts of the county’s workers without doing enough to reach out to Public Works Department supervisors first.
“I suggest you might want to consider working with the county instead of against our efforts,” Del Rosso said.
Graebener said Del Rosso’s letter did not accomplish very much and did not address any of the township’s concerns.
“We want to work with the county, but we called them four times and nothing got done. They were even mowing over the garbage on Moss Mill Road again (Tuesday),” Graebener said. “As elected representatives, we have responsibilities to our taxpayers and that includes making sure the roads are clean.”

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