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The Chambers County Commission approved a motion to partner with the city of Valley on a one-time disposal of vegetative debris for a local church on County Road 388 on Monday night. 

During the last commission meeting, representatives from Friendship Baptist Church asked the commissioners for help disposing of debris the congregation had cleared at the cemetery. 

The congregation had put the debris on the right-of-way on County Road 388 by the church, which is outside of Valley city limits. Because of this, the city would not pay to pick up the debris. 

However, the county doesn’t typically provide this service to unincorporated parts of the county. 

“It’s not something that the county does out in the unincorporated part of the county. I believe, due to the proximity to the city of Valley, it appears there was some confusion there with the church,” County Engineer Josh Harvill said. 

Harvill said after the last meeting, his staff went out to assess the situation and determined that it would not be safe to move themselves.

“It’s not really something that we felt like safely we could remove due to the type of equipment that we use to get debris off the sides of the road,” he said. 

Instead, Harvill reached out to the city of Valley for help because the city has several trucks with the appropriate equipment for the job. 

The city and the county highway department came to an agreement that they would pick up the debris if the county would cover the tipping fee and the surcharges for the county landfill. The landfill is currently charging $7 a ton plus a 9.4 percent fuel surcharge and a 5 percent environmental fee. 

The county highway department also agreed to provide traffic control for the city. Harvill said he anticipates the job requiring about half a day’s work. 

Harvill expects the job to require around four to five loads of debris.