The New Marion County Litter Task Force will fill its voting board and move one step closer to its projected September launch.
The task force, which was presented during the July 6 meeting of the Marion County Board of County Commissioners, will come up for discussion during the Tuesday, August 3 meeting of the board.
After the July presentation on the county’s new litter task force, commissioners were charged with finding a representative from their district for the voting board that comprises the force.
Currently, only two members of the voting board have been identified: Captain John Turner on behalf of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office and Lauren Debick on behalf of the Marion County School Board.
The task force is anticipated to start by the end of next month and should conclude by April 2022.
The creation of the force follows weeks of public and government comments on the state of litter across the county.
In June, Marion County Commissioners teamed up with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office to produce a video threatening possible jail time for residents caught illegally dumping. Earlier that month, commissioners from both the Marion County Board of County Commissioners and Marion County School Board described the situation as “disgusting.”
Marion County volunteers and organizations collected 1.5 million pounds of litter in 2020.
The Marion County Board of County Commissioners meets on the first and third Tuesday of every month at 9 a.m. at the McPherson Governmental Campus Auditorium, which is located at 601 SE 25th Avenue.