Haines police are still trying to make a case with video footage of 11 people allegedly dumping household trash in municipal dumpsters at the Small Boat Harbor last summer.
Manager David Sosa this week said police last week issued a citation to one of the illegal dumpers they were able to identify. Police served the citation on the person Monday.
However, the Haines District Court returned the citation to police for administrative and procedural errors.
One problem, said court clerk Bonnie Hedrick, was the cited offense isn’t listed in the state’s computer system of “minor offenses,” meaning the court can’t input it to be recognized by the state.
“This offense isn’t listed in the state’s computer, so they need to contact the programmers and then we can accept their citation,” Hedrick said.
Police chief Bill Musser said this week he didn’t know the details on the citation because he is out of town.
The issue arose at a Finance Committee meeting Monday when committee member George Campbell asked why the illegal dumpers weren’t being held accountable. “If people are illegally dumping their trash, let’s prosecute them,” he said.
The committee was considering a budget amendment that would appropriate $4,500 of raw fish tax money for the purchase of bigger, galvanized dumpsters. Campbell said buying more dumpsters isn’t the solution.
“It’s not a dumpster volume problem. It’s a who-is-using-the-facility problem,” Campbell said.