Brush Pickup

We pride ourselves on being able to offer the highest level of service, but in these tough economic times, we have to look for cost savings, so other basic services can be continued. We found that a twice a year solution was best. The City needs to concentrate its tax generated funds on the basic services of government and provide other services through fees or provide a lower level of service.
The City has opted to have three levels of service for residents. The first level provides brush pickup year around but requires that you call the City Office at 648-2344 to notify the City of the address where the brush is located adjacent to the street and to make arrangements for payment. The cost for collection other then the two annual and special collections will be $15.00 per collection request. The City will collect brush on the fourth Tuesday of the month starting in May and ending in November.
This policy charges a fee to ensure that brush pickup services are paid for by those who use them and since charges are most appropriate when services are clearly defined and can be directly connected to specific users/consumers, this type of service clearly meets the criteria. Nonusers are easily precluded from using or benefiting by the service and the charge helps prevent against some people over consuming a service while others must pay for it.
This policy helps reduce the consumption of gas and wear on vehicles by reducing vehicle travel time. Each pickup day has a route with the specific locations of requested pickups rather than traveling every street in the City to find possible brush piles.
The City provides a second level of service of free curbside collection of brush that is placed adjacent to the street twice annually, once in the spring and once in the fall on dates as determined by the weather. The dates will be advertised in the newspaper, the public channel on cable TV, and the City’s website.
The third level of service is the yard waste drop off site on Stony Road. The site is open 24 hours a day seven days a week for you to drop off any yard waste.
The City also picks up brush and branches from privately owned trees that were downed as a result of storms or high wind as determined by the Public Works Director.
The cost of the monthly service was reaching $60,000 annually, which averaged approximately 50 pickups per month. Two crews and the necessary equipment are assigned to this activity. The cost per stop for collection and removal was $100.00 ($60,000 ÷ 300 stops). Of course, the volume of material varied widely from stop to stop, so each stop doesn’t actually “cost” the same.
Yard waste (grass clippings, landscape trimmings, leaves, branches) had been banned from landfills by State law in 1990s, which resulted in the City starting to collect brush.
Although the expansion of service was designed to assist those residents who were doing some modest pruning of their private landscaping, we have found that extensive tree trimming and in some cases the actual removal of the tree results in large amounts of material being put at the curb. We suspect in some cases the landscaping company that has been hired to do the trimming has pointed out to the owner that if the material is left, it would be picked up free by the City but if the landscaper took it there would be a charge. Our crews have observed that trimmings from trees different from those on the property appear, perhaps imported. In a case or two our home occupation landscapers appear to be bringing the material from jobs outside of the City and leaving it in front of their house for pick up. In order to deal with those abuses the City opted for the following policy.

A. Purpose: The purpose of this policy is to define how brush from personal property will be managed by the City.

B. Brush Pickup Procedure
a. The City will collect brush placed adjacent to the street at no charge twice annually, once in the spring and once in the fall on dates as determined by the weather.
b. The City will collect Christmas trees at no charge in January.
c. Major storm damage will be collected at no charge if placed next to the street within seven days of the major storm event. The City will determine and announce emergency storm related brush collection.
d. Residents will be asked to call the City Office at 648-2344 to notify the City of the address where the brush is located adjacent to the street and to make arrangements for payment. The cost for collection other then the two annual and special collections will be $15.00 per collection request. The City will collect brush on the fourth Tuesday of the month starting in May and ending in November.
e. Residents must schedule appointments by the Monday prior to the collection date to be placed on the schedule.
f. The Street Department will prepare a route for collection based on the location of requested collections.

C. Standards for Collection

a. Brush must be brought to the curbside and placed with the cut ends facing the street or laid parallel with the street and the cut ends pointing with the flow of traffic.
b. Brush must be at curbside by 6:00 pm on the Monday before the collection date.
c. Brush for chipping cannot exceed eight feet in length or six inches in diameter. If the brush exceeds these sizes, the resident needs to notify the City for special collection conditions.
d. Vines, rakings, roots and root balls will not be accepted.
e. Brush stacked in a twisted bundle will not be chipped. If the brush is in a twisted bundle, the resident needs to notify the City for special collection conditions.

D. Brush may be taken to the yard waste site on Stony Road by City residents at any time at no cost.

E. The City reserves the right to not collect brush for just cause. An example of just cause would be failure to place the brush adjacent to the street in the manner designated in the policy.