Residents’ concerns lead to discussion on possible in-house program
By Kellen Olshefski
Correspondent
Several weeks into a new fall leaf collection it’s clear residents of Elkhorn are not pleased with service being provided under the city’s new leaf-collection program.
The new program was implemented this fall after elected officials discussed numerous options over the past year, from moving the program in-house to a bagged leaf collection. They eventually opted in favor of the new program, which they hoped would resolve issues from previous years.
Alderman Hoss Rehberg brought discussion on the leaf collection program to the table at the City of Elkhorn Finance and Judicial Committee’s budget work session on Nov. 14.
“To be honest, in the past week I’ve seen a lot of displeasure with the leaf pickup,” he said.
Being in the crunch of budget season, Rehberg said he thinks the city needs to look at the possibility of the Elkhorn Department of Public Works either renting or demo-ing a machine to determine whether or not the program can feasibly be brought in-house.
“I’m not sure Advanced Disposal, in the future, is going to work for us,” Rehberg said. “I know some other councilmembers have had some issues and calls …we’re in leaf time, and we can talk about it after this, but the problem is, is that this is the time that they have to see if it’s going to work for us.
“What’s happened the last week just isn’t working for me, I’m getting way too many calls,” he added.
Alderman Scott McClory said from his recollection, the idea was the contract would include some type of a memorandum that outlined what happens when Advanced Disposal has equipment break down or personnel issues that throw off the leaf collection schedule.
City Administrator Sam Tapson said under the contract, the company is required to notify the city in a timely manner and attempt to rectify the situation, something he said – in talks with Public Works Manager Neal Kolb – feels the company has lived up to.
“They did run into a specific problem where they simply couldn’t back it up, and that’s going to happen,” Tapson said.
As for having the Department of Public Works take over the program, Tapson said it’s something the city can certainly take a look at, as it’s done three previous times.
Rehberg said he wants to see if staffing at the department could handle a leaf-collection program.
“The problem is, we’ve always discussed this when it’s not leaf season and then the Department of Public Works doesn’t have an opportunity to get equipment here to try it and see if it’s going to work. We’re in the heat of leaf season now… I’m looking to next year’s budget, because maybe that’s where we need to go,” Rehberg said.
“Maybe Neal will look at it, they try a couple machines and Neal will say you know what, this is isn’t worth it. How do we know if these guys don’t try it,” he added.
Tapson suggested trying it in the spring, when public works employees can run a full leaf-collection cycle rather than the last week or two of this year’s, as it might give the city a better idea of what the department can handle.
Rehberg said he wasn’t looking for the city to purchase equipment at this time, altering the 2017 budget to include funds for equipment, but would like to see what options are available and what companies would be interested in letting the city try their equipment.
“I just think it’s something to look at,” Rehberg said. “I drove around today and there’s piles of leaves 6 and 8 feet tall. This is the time to try it, to see what his guys can do, how much they can accomplish.”
Kolb said the department can certainly make some calls to see what’s available, adding that there are companies the city works with he’s confident will have the equipment needed.
