An alarming rate of tires are being placed at a dump site in Lunenburg County, and it resulted in members of the Lunenburg County Board of Supervisors discussing solutions and asking audience members to be on the lookout for where the tires may be coming from.

County Administrator Tracy Gee estimated that there have been more than 60 tires deposited at the open-top unmonitored dumpsite at the intersection of Plank Road and Macwelch Lane at one time. The site is close to what was once known as the Bargains Unlimited store.

“This is not acceptable,” Gee said. “We’ve received as many as 60 or more … My first inclination was to close the sites that are open tops, but I wanted to check with my landfill committee first, and we need to address how we move forward.”

“(Container First Services) CFS charges $5 a tire when you go to the landfill,” Gee said. “Lunenburg County does not accept tires at our dump sites. This is a very difficult situation for our fellows to have to go out, pick up all of these tires, take them to CFS, and CFS is not getting any revenue and they’re having to dispose of them with the recycler, and recycling costs them money.”

“If we continue with this kind of problem, it’s going to be on the back of taxpayers,” Gee said.

Gee said county employees have arranged the tires into piles to be taken away by CFS. She said a week later, there would be more tires.

“They’re doing this during the day,” Gee said, referencing people who may be placing tires at the sites.

Meherrin River District Supervisor Robert G. Zava said he proposed the idea in the past to close the open-top dumpsites, citing these incidents as reasons.

“Two years ago I brought up this problem, open tops not being regulated,” Zava said. “We have put it off long enough. I think that we should close them.”

Beaver Creek District Supervisor Frank Bacon said closing the open tops wouldn’t deter people from dumping.

“It’s not going to change their habits,” Bacon said. “The tire problem has been here forever. What we’ve got to do is catch them.”

Brown’s Store District Supervisor Mike Hankins suggested security cameras to monitor the site, but Hound’s Creek Supervisor Alvester Edmonds said the cameras wouldn’t work, noting that people can just lay items outside the container site.

“We can’t afford to monitor and have someone out there 24/7,” Edmonds said.

Gee encouraged audience members to keep eyes peeled for any unusual activity at the site, and to report to county officials if they see tires being dumped.

“If you see something, say something,” Gee said.