Crittenden County Detention Center has come to the rescue to save a popular but costly city service for the fall.
For at least this year, a partnership between the City of Marion, the jail and county government will resurrect autumn leaf collection offered for many years to city property owners. In the city’s current budget, council members had cut out funding for the popular program as a cost-saving measure in a spending plan stretched thin.
“The citizens have expressed how important it is to them. We knew we had to get something done, and thanks to Robbie and the jail, it’s going to get done,” said Mayor Jared Byford, referring to Jailer Robbie Kirk.
Likely beginning sometime after mid-October, Kirk will assign one of his supervised mowing crews to the task. They will use the city’s leaf vacuum hauled by one of the lock-up’s own 3/4-ton trucks. Kirk said Judge-Executive Perry Newcom okayed the move since it will require the supervision of a deputy jailer on the county’s payroll.
The agreement was reached last Thursday, three days after a city hearing on a property tax increase during which time Marion’s former mayor, Mickey Alexander, brought up elimination of services like the leaf collection as one reason he could not support an additional burden on property owners. Leaf collection began many years ago under Alexander’s leadership as mayor as a way to eliminate problems like bothersome smoke and melted asphalt from burning leaves and clogged storm drains across the .... for more of this article see the Sept. 6, 2018 printed edition of The Crittenden Press or subscribe now.
