City to begin tackling leaf pick-up Oct. 23

Autumn leaves are free falling, and already seem to be piling up in earnest, awaiting annual collection efforts of the Greencastle Department of Public Works.

That process will begin with the leaf vacuum making its rounds starting Monday, Oct. 23 and continuing through Dec. 1, Department of Public Works Director Brad Phillips told the City Council Thursday night.

Leaf-collection efforts will again follow city trash route schedule, as is the tradition.

However, that timeframe includes three fall holidays for city workers, Saturday, Nov. 11 (Veterans Day) and Thursday and Friday, Nov. 23-24 (Thanksgiving). Collection efforts will double up the day before to stay on schedule.

Residents within city limits are advised to rake leaves to the edge of the street or into the area between the street and sidewalk -- but never into the street, Phillips stressed.

"No trash, no sticks, no other debris," Phillips cautioned, adding that leaves should be out at the curb the day before trash day.

Simple rules of city leaf pick-up efforts to keep in mind include:

-- No bags, plastic or otherwise, are to ever be used.

-- Leaves should be raked into the area between the sidewalk and curb or to the edge of the yard where is no curb (never into the street where they can be washed into the storm sewers).

-- No trash or tree limbs should ever be mixed in with leaves (limbs or foreign objects can damage equipment and put the leaf vac out of commission at a most inopportune time).

-- Burning leaves (or trash, for that matter) is not permissible within the city limits of Greencastle.

-- The collection schedule will follow city trash routes as closely as possible. So if your trash is picked up on Mondays, the leaf vacuum will probably get your leaves that day as well (unless the effort gets behind because of inclement weather or mass quantities of leaves).