On the surface, the plan Adams County Supervisors have devised to address illegal dumpsites across the county seems sound.

Supervisors plan to have the two county constables serve as the eyes and front-line workers in the fight against litter.

The county plans to increase the pay of the constables to help compensate them for the additional responsibility; the bulk of the pay should be reimbursed to the county by a state grant.

Previously the county had tried a different approach, hiring someone to serve as the county’s solid waste enforcement officer.

The problem with that plan was litter chief, as it were, didn’t have all that much authority, let alone any air of seriousness.

When a constable pulls up in a marked law enforcement car, wearing a uniform and service weapon, undoubtedly a landowner will take his warnings a bit more seriously than someone in street clothes and a regular automobile.

The problem of litter and illegal dumpsites is one that has plagued our community for decades.

For most law-abiding, taxpaying citizens, it’s frustrating and even difficult to fathom how someone can simply disregard their own property or others’ by dumping trash.

We’re happy to know the supervisors are taking the matter seriously and, realizing the current system is not working, trying something different.

Our only hope is that the county tracks the progress carefully and agrees to revoke the pay increase to constables if the new plan doesn’t prove to be any more successful than past efforts.