Dennis DeWitt, director of the Bee County Health Department, said the property owner has agreed to remove the tires.
“There’s a big truck parked next to the stack of tires right now,” DeWitt said Thursday. “He is cooperating and we will work with him as long as he is working toward disposing of the tires.”
DeWitt did not name the property owner.
The county received an anonymous tip about the pile of tires in February, DeWitt said.
A search of property records revealed the owner, who lives in Houston, DeWitt said.
“I contacted the owner of the property and he said he did not own the property any longer,” DeWitt recalled. “But I told him according to Bee County, he was still the owner.”
DeWitt said the Houston man later conceded the fact that he was still the owner of the property, and therefore responsible for the tires.
“It turns out another man was renting the house on the property and he was the one collecting the tires,” DeWitt explained. “That man has since been evicted.”
DeWitt said the renter apparently visited small-time tire repair businesses in the surrounding area, who paid him a small amount to take the used tires off their hands.
“Not only was he going out there and getting the tires, but they were apparently bringing the tires to the property,” DeWitt said. “They can save a lot of money if they pay him a dollar for each tire rather than pay a licensed tire recycler $3-$5 per tire.”
The renter, the person who transported the tires to the property and the property owner can each be held accountable for the tires.
“What he was doing was illegal because he wasn’t a licensed accumulator,” DeWitt said. “But the person transporting the tires and the person who owned the tires — the generator — can also be held responsible. It’s a state jail felony offense. They can go to prison.”
By the time DeWitt began his investigation, the pile of tires had accumulated to 1,154.
“It’s a health and safety issue,” DeWitt said.
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