With the arrival of peak leaf fall, the city Public Works Department reminds citizens to not place loose leaf piles next to vehicles or behind poles, mailboxes, guardrails and fire hydrants.
Crews began collecting loose leaves from residential neighborhoods on Oct. 1 and will continue through Jan. 31.There is no charge for this service, and no phone call is necessary. Leaves are collected each week on the same day as scheduled garbage collection as volume of leaves allows.
An average of 2,500 tons of leaves are collected and disposed of at the compost/mulch facility during leaf collection season.
The city asks residents to assist in the leaf collection by taking the following steps:
- Rake their loose leaves to the curb for vacuuming or place bagged leaves at the curb for pickup. Biodegradable bags are available for loose leaves from the Public Works Administrative Office at 998 South Boston Road. For more information, call the Public Works Department at 799-5245.
- If raked to the curb, make sure the leaf pile is placed at the edge of the paving where it can be reached by the vacuum hose from the roadway. The crews do not have enough manpower to rake piles to the vacuum.
- Rake leaves, including those that have accumulated in the gutters, into defined piles to be collected. The gutters will be cleaned throughout the whole city one time at the end of leaf season. The crews do not have the equipment or manpower to vacuum the length of all the gutters each week.
- Park vehicles away from a leaf pile. The city’s vacuum equipment uses truck-and-trailer combinations, so they require ample space to reach leaf piles.
- Do not rake leaves on the scheduled collection day and expect to have them collected that day. The crew may have already passed through the area.
- If you believe that your leaves were missed, then you are asked to wait one week before calling to report the issue. Trucks will return the following week to collect the leaves.
