To address the major illegal dumping program, Muskogee County commissioners are bringing back a program put on hold in the pandemic to help clean up junk and trash.

District 2 County commissioner Keith Hyslop said they are bringing back their Environmental Compliance program that uses inmates from the jail to clean it all up.

"With COVUD, we could not use the inmates because COVID rules and restrictions. So, it kind of disappeared because of that. But now that COVID is releasing more, we've been able to reinstate it, which is good," Hyslop said. 

Hyslop said because they're a year behind, the county will hire a private contractor to handle bigger trash sites.

Undersheriff Greg Martin said the Sheriff's Office even hired an environmental deputy to oversee the inmates.

"This isn't going away. As a matter of fact, it's gotten worse since no one has addressed this in quite some time with the COVID restrictions. This is going to continue to be a problem and it's not going to go away anytime soon," Martin said. 

Hyslop said inmates, environmental deputies and/or contractors will come out to the sites, pick up the trash, load it all up, and take it to the nearest dumping site.

Martin said inmates will be masked up and tested before they leave the jail. He said the sooner they can clean this all up, the less it will cost taxpayers.

"It's everyone's backyard. We're next-door to a pond that people fish in and here we are dealing with trash that's going to get into our water system," Martin explained. 

Martin said the public can help with this. If you see a site pop up or see illegal dumping happen, county leaders ask you to capture that on your phone and contact the Sheriff's office on their non-emergency number at (918) 687-0202.