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In an uncharacteristically brief meeting on Feb. 17, a non-agenda item sparked the board’s most lengthy discussion of the night.
As Albemarle City Council members were delivering comments at the end of the meeting, Mayor Pro-Tem Martha Sue Hall noted that she had received some calls from citizens regarding “door-hanger” notices left at homes where solid waste or recycling rollout carts were left at the curb beyond the home’s regular day of trash collection.
“Folks are getting notices when carts are left at the road,” said Hall, speaking to City Manager Todd Clark. “We’re not picking on people; that’s just something we’re doing proactively, right?”
Clark agreed, adding, “We have an ordinance that requires that the cart be placed at the street curb the day before collection, and then removed the next evening before 7 p.m.”
He noted that since city staff normally does not work evenings, they would not be present to enforce the ordinance strictly.
“It should not be a huge concern for our citizens, but it is written into our code of ordinances,” Clark said. “It does create a problem for people who park on the street, so we do need to enforce it, otherwise there is no purpose in having the ordinance.”
“The door hangers have been left as a courtesy to say, ‘Hey, you’re in violation of the code, please return your cart to the residence at the end of the day,’ ” he said. “We’re exercising common sense and not issuing fines or removing carts at this point.”
“Did I miss something we put out a month or a month and a half ago?” asked Councilman Benton Dry. “It seems that a lot of people got blindsided by this.”
Public Works Director Ross Holshouser noted that door hangers have been placed for the 11 years he has worked for the city, but only recently have staff been available to place the notices absent a complaint from neighbors, or in the case of obvious and repeated violations.
“You actually get three chances before your cart would be taken,” he said. “You’d have to leave your cart out at the curb for two months for that to happen. I don’t think anybody’s going to leave their cart out for two months.”
He noted that doing so would result in the violator receiving three notices and a certified letter before such action could be taken.
“I think where we dropped the ball on this is we should have gone through our communications director and had him issue a release that this was coming,” Mayor Ronnie Michael said. “We’ll deal with it the best we can and it will be a learning experience for the future.”
The wording of the applicable ordinance, 41.04 (D)(1) of the city’s code states:
“Where the wheeled container is used, the owner, tenant, lessee, or occupant of the premises shall be responsible for causing the wheeled container to be placed at the curb or side of the street, but not in the portion of the street used for vehicular travel, at a place readily accessible for collection by the city or contract garbage collection crews once each week on the day designated by the Director of Public Works for the area in which the premises are located. The wheeled containers shall be so located not earlier than 6 p.m. the day prior to collection nor later than 8 a.m. on the day of the pickup and must be removed from the street location not later than 7 p.m. the same day.”
In other matters,the council:
• Approved budget amendments for parks and recreation grant funds and public works capital items ordered during the previous fiscal year, and to amend the water and sewer fund.
• Awarded the 2025-26 City Street Resurfacing Project Bid to the NJR Group of New London.
• Received an update from Adam Kiker of LKC Engineering regarding amending the budget for the Long Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility Rehabilitation, which appropriates additional funding of $14.65 million received in October 2024 within the project.
• Entered a closed session to discuss personnel matters.
Albemarle City Council meets on the first and third Mondays of each month at Albemarle City Hall. The council’s next regular meeting is scheduled for March 3 at 6:30 pm.

Toby Thorpe is a freelance writer for The Stanly News & Press.