ROCKLAND, Maine — A majority of city councilors back the city manager’s proposal to end the publicly funded annual spring cleanup.
City Manager James Chaousis said Tuesday that the spring cleanup, which usually occurs in May, likely will not be held anymore, starting this year. He said the final decision will be made soon and will probably be coupled with an announcement about a better structured fall cleanup.
At Monday evening’s City Council meeting, three of four councilors said they supported Chaousis’ recommendation to end the cleanup. The city manager said the cost and the time it takes public works crews away from other high priority tasks were the reasons behind his proposal.
The manager provided a memo from Public Services Director David St. Laurent, who pegged the cost of the four-week spring cleanup at $85,500. That cost included the pay for eight employees for four weeks, and the cost for a backhoe, dump truck and 1-ton dump truck used to pick up some of the waste left roadside.
“The winter season has mostly subsided, and luckily it was a mild winter,” Chaousis stated in a memo to the council. “Winter maintenance damage was much lower than normal. The Department of Public Services will start the process of spring repairs, including sweeping, painting and right-of-way repairs. Considering that the transfer station provides free disposal of yard waste, the city will not have a formalized spring cleanup this year. Instead the Public Services Department will continue to provide transportation repairs on sidewalks and streets.”
During the discussion, Councilor William Clayton pointed out that some citizens have taken advantage of the cleanup — which is for yard wastes — by putting out things such as old picnic tables and tricycles or cutting down trees and leaving the trunk and limbs out on the side of the street for the public services crew to pick up and take to the dump.
Clayton, however, said the city should consider some mechanism to help out elderly people who have no way of getting their yard wastes to the landfill. The manager said he would take into consideration the suggestions of councilors.
The only councilor expressing support for continuing the program was Mayor Louise MacLellan-Ruf who said citizens are accustomed to the service and that there will be a visual cost if the city does not continue the cleanup.