In 2023, it was July.
In 2024?
August.
But the problem—and the message—are the same, if louder:
If you live in the Town of Middleburgh, stop abusing the dump.
And if you don’t, keep out.
Thursday, Councilman Wes Laraway trashed conditions at the Cotton Hill Road site.
“I went by and it was absolutely horrible,” he said. “It’s a major problem there and it’s only getting worse.
“It’s out-of-control. It’s an eyesore and it’s disgusting.”
In July 2023, Highway Steve Kowalski threatened to close the site, long closed as a landfill but a place where Middleburgh-only residents are allowed to dump brush and leaves.
“That’s why there’s nothing like this in other towns,” Mr. Kowalski said Thursday. “Schoharie closes its on and off, but otherwise, there’s no dump anywhere. Because people abuse it.”
Mr. Kowalski has ordered another sign for the site laying out the rules again—that people will undoubtedly ignore, he said, just like the signs already there warning “No Building Debris or Household Garbage. Brush and Leaves Only,” and “Notice This Property IS Protected by Video Surveillance.”
That led Mr. Laraway to suggest that a gated fence and a $500 fine for illegal dumping might be next.
“What we’re doing isn’t working,” he said.
That, however, would have to be policed and enforced, Mr. Kowalski said.
The Sheriff’s Office would have to write a ticket, it would have to go to court, and “they’d actually have to pay,” he said.
Though Mr. Laraway said the whole place is a mess, Mr. Kowalski said the real problem is still out-of-town contractors dumping there.
“I got rid of a 10-wheeler the other day,” he said.
“Brush and leaves from people who live here, that’s not the problem…and some people go in there to cut wood, to keep their families warm in the winter”—something Mr. Laraway also said he didn’t like.