With the fall season comes loose leaves, but the city street department would like to remind the public of the ordinance surrounding their disposal.
“We still have people blowing leaves out on the streets,” said Danny Miller, street superintendent. “They should be putting the (loose leaves) into bags. We would greatly appreciate it if we could enforce the ordinance, putting the leaves into bags.”
Miller said many citizens also leave the loose leaves in large piles by the curb. However, that still poses a problem with clogging drains and ditches. He said especially after a hard rain, the leaves become a problem.
Bottom line, loose leaves contribute to flooding concerns within the city.
“It is actually a city ordinance on how you do the leaves,” Miller reminded the city council during its open meeting Monday. “In my 20-something years here, I haven’t see it enforced though.”
Last month, the street department collected 50 bags of loose leaves. Year-to-date, they have picked up 804 bags.
Mayor Diane Delaware said she knows that Miller has been trying to address the problem for quite some time.
“I have seen you out in the rain, removing leaves,” she said, to Miller. “And I know our citizens want to keep our city from flooding. We just have to share this information with out citizens.”
Landfill Expenses
The street department is also looking for ways to save money when it comes to hauling garbage to landfills.
Last month, the city hauled 128 loads of garbage to a Canton landfill. A total of about 1,630 loads have been taken for the year-to-date.
Miller said the city is also considering other contracts to see how money can be saved in the future.
“We are killing our trucks, running up and down the road,” said Alderman Dr. Jack Varner. “We need to look at having our own transfer station. It would save gas, mileage, tires and time. I would like to do some sort of study on this.”
Varner said he wants to see what system would work for the city that would not cost “an arm and a leg.”
“We need to build a system where we can back our trucks up and dump into it...like an 18-wheeler,” Varner continued. “And there are people who would contract out to provide an 18-wheeler.”
