VIDALIA — Concordia Parish will consider again using inmates to pick up trash around the parish after officials have perceived an increase in loose garbage around the parish.

Since the parish stopped having inmates collect the trash at the end of last year, certain areas have become easy targets for dumping trash, multiple police jurors said Monday at a regular jury meeting.

After District 2 Juror Willie Dunbar brought up the issue, District 1B Juror Joseph Parker asked for a meeting with Concordia Parish Sheriff Kenneth Hedrick to revisit a cleanup system involving inmates.

In recent months, areas such as Bayou Drive, located in Vidalia off Rountree Road, have become less than satisfactory to say the least in terms of cleanliness, Parker said.

“We didn’t know how important that was until we stopped doing it,” Parker said. “On Bayou Drive, man, I see toilets. Anybody needs loveseats and couches, I can give them to you cheap.”

Additionally, District 5A Juror Jimmy Jernigan and District 5B Juror Red Tiffee supported the need to find a solution for the trash problems.

The initial reason the parish stopped using inmates for this purpose is because of issues with getting inmates to actually carry out cleanup efforts, all while the parish was paying two employees to oversee the process, Jernigan said.

Parker asked District 1A Juror Carey Cook to set up the meeting with Hedrick sometime soon to try and get the issue resolved.