LIMA — With a trial period proving overwhelmingly successful since April, Ohio Department of Transportation District 1 announced it will officially partner with the sheriffs in Allen and Putnam counties for helping with litter control on two-lane highways in the county.
Nonviolent offenders in both counties began picking up litter in April within their respective counties. Allen County Sheriff Samuel Crish said it has been a win-win situation for everyone involved.
“It is completely voluntary and no one is forced to do it,” Crish said. “We ask the inmates if they are willing. They like it because it gets them out of the facility. We have had positive response from the community. They think it is great.”
Ohio Department of Transportation Deputy Director Kirk Slusher said they expect the move to save funds for the department as it will free up hours from skilled workers.
“It frees up a lot of our manpower,” Slusher said. “It takes away from our resources when we have skilled laborers doing unskilled jobs. It will allow us to focus more on maintenance and other work we should be doing.”
Slusher said it will ultimately save taxpayer dollars and described the move as being “good government.” Slusher said ODOT has refunded the departments $15,000 and that inmates had collected 325 bags of trash.
“That is far below what we would have been paying the general labor force,” Slusher said.
Putnam County Sheriff Michael Chandler said the agreement covers about 400 to 600 miles of rodway, which he said includes all two-lane highways in the two counties with the exception of areas covered by “Adopt A Highway” volunteers.
“It is a trial program that is working well and now we hope to continue it,” Chandler said. “These are nonviolent offenders and they just want to get out a little bit. It is a great program.”
Chandler said the program likely would have been used even more over the summer, but heavy rains early on prevented full use of the program. All 12 ODOT districts in Ohio make a decision if they want to use the program. District 1 includes Defiance, Paulding, Van Wert, Putnam, Allen, Hancock, Hardin and Wyandot counties.
“It is a program we hope to expand into other counties as well in the future,” Slusher said.
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