WINDSOR – Liverman’s Metal Recycling is living up to its commitments to the county.

That’s the message delivered to the Bertie County Commissioners last week by Planning Director Traci White. She appeared before the board at the request of several commissioners who had questions in the wake of a recent fire at the facility.

During their first meeting in November, several board members questioned the pile of debris that caught on fire as well as the vegetation barrier required for the business and the noise.

White said she had checked the noise at the request of the board earlier this year and had found them not to be a nuisance. She also said she had checked into the price of noise monitoring and found that it would cost between $2,100 and $8,500 for 24 to 48 hours of monitoring.

“Every county I’ve talked to thus far said it is the sheriff’s office that enforces the (noise) ordinance,” White said. “Some have devices to monitor noise and others go by monitoring from a certain distance from the source of the noise.”

She told the board they had the right to control noise or to set hours for when businesses that produce noise can operate. Most counties that set a work window do so for construction businesses, she said.

Commissioner Rick Harrell asked how long it had been since there had been a complaint about noise at Liverman’s and White said she had not received one since January.

White also said Liverman’s had lived up to its obligations as far as fencing and a vegetative barrier. She said some of the trees had not grown as quickly as planned because of dry summers, but most were in place.

Commission Vice Chairman J. Wallace Perry asked about the debris pile that caught fire on Nov. 6.

White said the county had conversations with Liverman’s about that pile and had asked for it to be less than eight feet, but had been told the business could not operate under those conditions.

“Is it considered junk,” Perry asked.

White said that was a gray area and that the business had been asked to move the machine to the back of the property to keep the debris pile less visible from the road.

Commissioner Charles Smith said the debris was very visible from the road.

Commission Chairman L.C Hoggard III asked Lewiston Woodville Fire Chief Larry Mizelle, who was at the meeting and also on the site of the fire , how tall he thought the pile was.

Mizelle said he believed it was 30 or 40 feet high, but stressed that was strictly a guess.

Commissioners took the item under advisement and took no action.

The Bertie County Sheriff’s Office is continuing its investigation into the fire.