Cameras go up as borough begins crackdown on trash dumping
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - Shenandoah Streets Worker Joe Michalik sets up a camera as Code Enforcement Officer Mark Pronio holds the ladder on June 6, 2024.
SHENANDOAH – Borough code enforcement and streets department workers were out today installing cameras and lodged a stern warning for folks who are using the town as a dumping ground.
“[We] will be vigorously enforcing the littering laws and ordinances,” Mark Pronio, Code Enforcement Officer, told the Sentinel Thursday.
He lodged the warning as he and streets worker Joe Michalik installed cameras covering dumping hotspots in town.
“We urge the public, who have community pride in their town, to help in any way,” Pronio said.
He said anonymous tips can be left with code enforcement at the borough’s website.
The area where Pronio and Michalik were working was recently cleaned up by a volunteer crew.
Dumping has been an issue in various sections of town, as people have offloaded trash on roadsides, empty lots, and more.
Borough Council Vice President Mike “Zeckie” Uholik, asked the rest of council to declare “war on the trash” dumping in town earlier this year.
Trail cameras were purchased for various hotspots.
“We have a lot of illegal dumping in the borough, the borough is going to clean up these areas, and when we do that, these trail cameras are going to come in very handy to help catch some of these rascals that are re-dumping in the same areas,” Councilman Mike Whitecavage said in February.
Illegal dumping has become more and more prevalent in the region, especially as trash companies, and residents who haul their own trash, face exorbitant tipping fees at area transfer stations.
In August, dumpers chose to use the entrance to the Ringtown Valley Scenic View and, when a name was found in the trash, the apparent dumpers were located and made to clean the mess up.
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