Over the past year, Henry County Government has restructured many of the interior departments to face the new demands of COVID-19 protocol. In order to protect the health and well-being of our employees and citizens, protective shields have been installed, shelter-in-place measures were followed, social distancing has been encouraged, and many services were altered to establish a safe and healthy environment.

Although many operations continued without interruption, one of the areas that has been deeply impacted by the pandemic is our Community Service Department and litter control program through that department. This program is powered by defendants who have been assigned by the courts to perform community service hours. In addition, inmates are utilized from the jail to provide additional manpower, and when these resources are available, the department provides many services which would otherwise be paid for by taxpayers. However, because inmates have not been able to leave the jail due to concerns of widespread coronavirus inside the jail and because court proceedings have been curtailed, fewer defendants have been sentenced to community service.

To combat the problem of litter on our roadways and rights-of-way, Henry County has implemented changes to help keep the county free of litter. The Community Service Department has been expanded to include new crew leaders, which will allow more workers in the program while still conforming to social distancing guidelines. The Board of Commissioners also awarded a bid to an outside contractor who will provide roadside litter pickup on a daily basis to several more-populated areas. These changes, along with help and awareness of our citizens, will help keep our county beautiful and litter-free.
The county will also be partnering with Keep America Beautiful to further beautification efforts in the county, and welcome citizen or civic group participation to keep the county clean.

There are several groups and neighborhoods working to keep our community clean. If you have volunteers or groups who pick up and bag litter from the roadsides and common areas, call Community Service, who will come by and pick up the bags for disposal. Community Service may be reached at 770-288-6210. Littering is a crime in Henry County. If you see someone dumping or littering, please safely record the incident or tag number and report it to Henry County Code Enforcement at 770-288-6200.

Litter on roadways may also be reported on the county’s SeeClickFix app.