Village Board adds leaf pickup dates for 2018

By Tracy Ouellette

SLN Staff

The East Troy Village Board approved adding four more fall leaf/brush collection days with John’s Disposal, starting in 2018.

Village Board Trustee Ann Zess was against spending the additional $5,000 to increase the yard waste pickup days from two a year to six a year – one in spring and five in fall.

“We’ve had one person come to the board and request this,” she said. “We’re slamming this into place for one person who came to the board twice.”

The board had asked Department of Public Works Director Jason Equitz to look into options for leaf collection. He presented the option of having the village’s refuse collector increase its leaf/brush pickup days or contracting the job out to a landscaper. He recommended the first option, saying he felt it would be easier to control costs.

John’s offered two bagging options to the board for the additional five pickups – plastic bags or paper/compostable bags. The board chose the paper bag option as it will save the village about $2,000 over plastic bags.

In a memo to the board with his recommendation, Equitz wrote, “Paper/compostable bags are available at most hardware stores. We confirmed that these could be obtained locally at Martin’s Hardware, Rental and Pet in either 5-packs for $2.99 or 15-packs for $7.49.”

The increase in refuse expenses was not a budgeted item, so the money for it in 2018 will be taken from the general fund. The board discussed adding the increase to tax bill for 2019, which will be discussed at budget time next year.