Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
} <br />ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: September 5, 2000 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. ~-~ <br />SUBJECT: Petition for BOCC to Designate September 16, 2000 as County Big Sweep <br />Stream Cleanup Day _ _ _ __ <br />DEPARTMENT: County Engineer PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br />ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br /> Paul Thames, County Engineer, <br />Letter from Town of Chapel Hill ext 2303 <br />Engineering Staff (Big Sweep Stream <br />Cleanup Coordinators) TELEPHONE NUMBERS: <br /> Hillsborough 732-8181 <br /> Chapel Hill 968-4501 <br /> Durham 688-7331 <br /> Mebane 336-227-2031 <br />PURPOSE: To consider a request that the BOCC: 1) designate Saturday, <br />September 16, 2000, as Big Sweep Stream Cleanup Day in Orange County; 2) encourage <br />citizens and County staff to volunteer to participate in Big Sweep stream cleanup efforts; <br />and 3) agree to waive tipping fees at the Orange County Landfill for the debris <br />removed from the County's streams by the Big Sweep volunteers. <br />BACKGROUND: The Town of Chapel Hill Engineering Department, the Orange County <br />coordinator for this year's annual event, has petitioned the BOCC to designate Saturday, <br />September 16~' as "Big Sweep" Stream Cleanup Day. The Big Sweep program is a statewide <br />effort to remove litter from streams, lakes and waterways by using the efforts of local citizen, <br />civic, and environmental interest group volunteers. <br />The stream cleanup process generally involves getting local government jurisdictions to: <br />1) declare a designated day as "Big Sweep Day"; 2) agree to help with the disposal of <br />collected litter; and 3) encourage one or mare governmental employees to volunteer in <br />coordinating govemmen#al assistance with the volunteer effort. Local governments may also <br />choose to publicize the cleanup effort and to provide a venue for its own employees to <br />volunteer their services to the cleanup effort. Typically, personnel from the local coordinators <br />will target appropriate stream sites, solicit volunteers to remove litter from designated <br />streams, coordinate the efforts of those volunteers and provide gloves, trash bags, etc. <br />The volunteers will be responsible for transporting the collected litter to designated <br />pick-up points. Big Sweep organizers and coordinators will be responsible for collecting <br />litter at pick-up points and transporting it to the landfill. <br />