Poop problems persist in Marshall: 'This isn't a nuisance but a public health problem'
MARSHALL - The topic of animal waste has been a main area of concern in two recent Marshall Town Board meetings, and while the topic once again figured in the board's Jan. 23 meeting, the issue of human feces was another point of emphasis raised by a Marshall shop owner who hoped the town would address the issue moving forward.
In the board's Nov. 24 meeting, the town agreed to once again mail notices to downtown residents reminding them to pick up after their dogs.
The issue was first raised by board members in its March 21, 2022, meeting, in which the board unanimously voted to attach notices to town residents' water bills.
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Lisa Pantzer operates Holistic Veterinary Services of Asheville, located two doors down from the post office on Jerry Plemmons Way (typically referred to as Back Street).
"I'm here to talk about Back Street. There's been a lot of development along Back Street, a lot more traffic along Back Street, a lot more people walking dogs on Back Street, and children living on Back Street now," Pantzer said.
Pantzer said she has noticed an increase in traffic along the one-way street, including cars speeding and traveling the wrong way down the road.
"They come flying down the street, and now that there are children out there, the kids just don't look before they run across the street," Pantzer said.
Pantzer and Carolina Flowers owner Emily Copus said the issue of dog waste has persisted, despite the notices.
"There are three trash cans across from my building that are supplied for (two Main Street buildings), and everybody dumps all kinds of things in those," Pantzer said. "There is recycling mixed in. People put their doggie poop bags in there. (Maintenance Supervisor) Jamie (Chandler) has asked us to put signage on the trash cans to remind people that there are poop (receptacles throughout the downtown area)."
According to Pantzer, Modern Off-Grid Store owner Samantha Flake has volunteered to build a containment for the dog waste collection.
"I know I go out several times a week and pick up things because I want them to look good for my clients who are disposing their dog poop properly," Pantzer said.
"I have spoken to a bunch of the people who continually walk their dogs there, and we're trying to self-police on that. But there are people who just don't pick up after their dogs, and there are people who are unaware that their dogs poop as they walk down the street. We're trying to keep a handle on it."
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According to Copus, Carolina Flowers, a growing downtown Marshall business that employs roughly 12 people year-round, is experiencing some infrastructural issues that will determine whether the business can stay in Marshall long term.
"In the year ahead, I probably will talk to you again about some of those growth-related issues, and I will need you to be our champion because we would like to stay in Marshall, if we can," Copus said to the board. "In the next couple of years we'll have to make decisions about where to go as we grow, just because, parking spaces for 16 (employees)."
On Jan. 23, though, Copus said she, too, appeared before the board to discuss the animal waste problem.
According to Copus, the store shares a 1,200-square-feet Back Street property used for parking and unloading goods with another Main Street business, but the space has been "disrespected by the dog poop."
Copus showed the board a picture taken Jan. 19 of the animal waste she claims to have picked up that day.
"All of the dog poop that I picked up, I started with a normal-sized trash bag, and I filled it up, and then had to get a contractor-sized trash bag," Copus said. "In order to get the trash bags into the dumpster, I had to pick them up (in a squat exercise motion) to push them over the side.
"So, this is not a nuisance. This is a public health issue. This is not sanitary. It is the same people over and over. We know who they are. It is not a secret. I've asked them lots of times to stop, but now I'm asking the town to step in."
Board member Aileen Payne asked Copus whether there was a camera positioned along Back Street at Carolina Flowers to help surveil for repeat offenders.
According to Copus, she attempted to place a camera along the corridor, but due to wireless connection difficulties, a security camera is not currently a feasible option.
One of the suggestions Copus offered to the board was to increase the ordinance fee, which is currently set at a $50 fine levied against residents who don't pick up after their animals, according to information shared by Town Administrator Forrest Gilliam in the board's November 2022 meeting.
Blannahassett Island bathroom
Dog waste was not the only point of concern for a third business owner.
Rhiannon Vaughn, an employee at Of Wand & Earth, said she felt another issue in the town was human waste.
"I'm asking about people poop," Vaughn said. "I talk to all the tourists that come in town. All of them come in our shop, and they all ask me questions, and I talk exclusively to all of them. They ask me where to eat, what to eat, where to go and what to do. Then they ask me if they can use the bathroom, because there is no public bathroom here.
"I don't know if you all expect them to poop on the street like they do in Asheville, but, I mean, the more people we get here, that's what we're looking at."
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The town's public bathroom is located on Blannahassett Island.
"I don't know if you've ever looked in those bathrooms, but I'm a wedding officiant and I did a wedding out there on the island," Vaughn said. "I'm also a retired nurse, and I can tell you that's a public health hazard. They're not ever clean. They're filthy, and I don't know where people are supposed to go to the bathroom."
According to Vaughn, she does not refer her customers to use the bathrooms on the island, as she feels it may give visitors a bad impression of Marshall.
"So, every time they ask me, I let them use our bathroom, and my shop owner pays for that, and I'm the one who cleans it every day," Vaughn said. "There's just not a bathroom anywhere, and I think it's terrible. I get little old ladies who want to shop, and they're like, 'I've got to go. I've got to go. Where can I go? Oh, there's a public bathroom over there on the island. Where is that? How do I get there?'
"I don't tell them to do that because it's going to be filthy and disgusting, and I don't want them to think that Marshall is gross. So, they use my clean bathroom. We pay for the toilet paper. I just feel like we ought to have a decent public bathroom for all these tourists that we keep getting, to actually use. I think that that's appropriate. It's really a health issue, as far as I'm concerned."
According to the town administrator, the Blannahassett Island bathrooms are not the only public restrooms available to visitors.
Gilliam said the town maintains public restrooms on the Island for area residents and other visitors to the park.
"Our employees clean these restrooms a minimum of weekly, and as needed throughout the week and before or after scheduled events," Gilliam said. "For the downtown area, in addition to businesses and offices providing restrooms for their customers, the Marshall Welcome Center, located at the Arts Council on South Main Street, has public restrooms during the Welcome Center’s normal operating hours."
The next Marshall Town Board meeting is Feb. 20 at 6 p.m. at Marshall Town Hall, located at 180 S. Main St.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Shop owner: Marshall poop 'isn't a nuisance but a public health issue'
