Naperville City Council made a decision on the future of bulk curbside leaf collection in Naperville.
Previous Proposal Rejected
After rejecting city staff’s previous recommendation to reduce the leaf collection program from a six-week cycle to a four-week cycle, Naperville City Council was presented a solution they think will work.
City staff recommended contracting out more pickups, renting more loaders and trucks, replacing aging equipment, and having employees work overtime hours to get more leaves picked up before winter.
“This program is the same six-week program and everyone gets three pickups,” said Director of Public Works Dick Dublinski. “What is going on here is the supplemental help from the contractors to help us get the job done quicker and then on the rental side, the last two weeks we’ll be renting some equipment and doing some extra trucking. That way our people will be getting ready for winter, which we always have problems with.”
Council approved the change in the budget to accommodate the updates to the program, which will cost $274,000.
Conflict With Snow Removal
City staff uses many of the same trucks for leaf pickup and snow removal. Early snows in three of the last five years have made leaf pickup extremely difficult.
Council has said they receive more emails about this program than almost any other topic, showing residents greatly value it.
Naperville News 17’s Casey Krajewski reports.
