Supervisors in Buckingham County agreed to close manned solid waste sites and recycling centers from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. when attendants are not at the sites, along with securing the Route 56 site during the evening hours.

The action came following a report from District Three Supervisor Morgan Dunnavant, who sits on the board’s utilities committee.

During Monday’s board of supervisors meeting, Dunnavant said the committee met regarding solid waste issues with Lyn Hill, the supervisor of the county’s solid waste department.

“I’m still of my same opinion on some of these unmanned sites, but the manned sites, particularly the construction dumpsters, are being genuinely seriously abused when the station attendants are going to lunch,” Dunnavant said. “Pretty much they leave the gate open and they leave the station open, and when they get back, they’ve found refrigerators, just bumpers, just all kinds of stuff that just, you know, the attendants probably would have turned away because they probably came from somewhere else.”

“I am taking the schedule back to the board on (Monday) to reconfirm,” County Administrator Rebecca S. Carter said following the meeting, “because we have some questions regarding the Route 600 site due to it has a different monitoring schedule than the others. We will have something at that meeting,” Carter said, adding she didn’t want to confuse or mislead the public “until we have it all straight.”

Buckingham has solid waste sites across the county, including on Route 600, Route 655, U.S. Route 15 at Arvonia, on U.S. Route 15 in Dillwyn, on U.S. Route 15 at the former Bates’ Market Store, on Route 56 and at Routes 15 and 617. The larger centers have roll-off construction containers, such as the sites in Dillwyn, on Route 655 and in Arvonia.

Dunnavant said during the meeting that supervisors needed “to see about actually closing the gate on those stations that have the roll-off containers when the attendant is not there.”

District One Supervisor R.C. “Bobby” Jones, who serves as board chairman, responded, “absolutely.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying the whole time,” District Six Supervisor Joe N. Chambers Jr. said.

Following the discussion about the solid waste sites with construction containers, District Two Supervisor Donnie Bryan questioned closing the Route 56 site at night.

“I think the way Lyn said it was it filled up overnight,” Bryan said.

“It should be locked at night,” Jones responded.

“The abuse of the roll-off containers has become excessive when the attendants to go lunch” Dunnavant reiterated.

“The attendant leaves,” Bryan said. “And that’s when the roll-offs mysteriously (fill up).”

Carter said the attendants at the manned solid waste sites are off when the sites are open between 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

During the meeting, District Five Supervisor Harry W. Bryant suggested alternating the times the attends are gone during the day.

“Alternate the time that those monitors leave there and come back. You know, a surprise attack,” he said. “The (recycling center) at Midway Market (on Route 655), at 11 o’clock, the guy gets ready to leave there. (At) 11:30 a.m., you go to Scottsville and see if you don’t meet pickups coming across the bridge to bring their trash over here because they know exactly when he leaves and exactly the time he’s coming back.”

Bryant noted closing the sites during the day when the attendants were gone would be an “an inconvenience to the public”

“It’s not a lunch. They close from 11 a.m.-2 p.m.,” Carter said.

During supervisor’s June 13 meeting last year, supervisors discussed closing the sites during the midday hours.

In June, Hill said the county spends between $80,000 and $150,000 because of illegal dumping each year.