County supervisors have agreed to close four manned solid waste sites during set hours during the day when attendants aren’t present.

The 6-1 vote stipulated that the action affecting the Dillwyn Recycling Center on Wingo Road, the Route 655 site, the Arvonia site on U.S. Route 15 and the Route 600 site would begin June 1. The decision, which only saw opposition from District Seven Supervisor Danny Allen, stipulates that the Route 56 site will be closed in the evening hours from 7 p.m.-6 a.m. daily and will close Sundays at 6 p.m.

The sites on Route 655 and in Arvonia and Dillwyn will close from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. daily. The Arvonia and Route 655 sites will continue to be closed on Thursdays. The Route 600 site will be open from 6 a.m.-8:15 a.m. and 4:30-7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. On Sundays, it will be open 8-10:15 a.m. and from 3:30-6 p.m., according to the action taken Monday night by county supervisors.

“This site’s not used that much,” County Administrator Rebecca S. Carter said of the Route 600 site.

The action follows discussion during the board’s April 17 meeting, where District Four Supervisor Morgan Dunnavant, who sits on the board’s utilities committee, brought up the topic.

“We’re going to try to monitor these sites because we’re closing these others (during the day and) we expect these sites will probably catch it … and maybe work with law enforcement to see who’s coming in there,” Carter said regarding the county’s unmanned sites after referencing photos of tires and other prohibited items at the Route 657 site near St. Andrews Church — one that’s unmanned.

“That’s all (they’re) going to do is load up the other sites,” Allen said. “(We) ought to look and see about hiring enough people to go on and keep (them) open all day long instead of closing them down. All you’re going to do is get more trash on the side of the road.”

District Five Supervisor Harry Bryant suggested alternating the attendants’ time each site rather than closing sites during the day.

“If you can alternate the time that the monitors are there,” Bryant said, “you don’t have to give them any extra hours, you know … If it’s possible that you could let them come in when they normally open and leave in a couple hours and come back. If they come back at 2 p.m. let them come back at noon.”

Buckingham has solid waste sites across the county, including on Route 600, Route 655, Arvonia, on U.S. Route 15 in Dillwyn, on U.S. Route 15 at the former Bates’ Market Store, on Route 56 and 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 April 17 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.”

“It really won’t make any difference if when the people that are monitoring the site leave they lock the gate, then they can’t put anything in there until the monitors come back,” District One Supervisor and Board Chairman R.C. “Bobby” Jones said. “… It’s not going to work if you leave them open while the monitors leave for 2-3 hours. It won’t work, I can tell you that.”

“We don’t know if it’s local … We guess,” Carter said regarding trash from outside the county coming in to the sites.Over the last six months since surveillance cameras have been at the Route 56 site, Carter said, “almost every month the waste costs went up. So, more trash is coming in there. I don’t know the answer because our costs are going up but we’re having more trash. And where it’s coming from, I don’t know.”

“And our population is not increasing,” District Two Supervisor Donnie Bryan said.