Residents still not allowed to blow leaves into street

By Mark Shaffer

The Ironton Tribune

The City of Ironton has its leaf collector up and running, but residents are still not allowed to blow leaves in the street.

“It’s a great addition to our tools we have out in the community,” Mayor Sam Cramblit II said at Thursday’s Ironton City Council meeting. “We’re pretty excited to have it and have been hitting some of the problem areas to start off.”

He explained that the city bought a leaf collector and attached it to a dump truck the city already owns. It has a canopy which grinds up the leaves.

“It is a very nice system,” Cramblit said.

Cramblit said they are working on get a leaf collection schedule set up with the city’s street sweeper to be more efficient.

Last year, the city paid a company to collect the leaves but Cramblitt said the cost of the leaf collector, which was around $10,000, was cheaper than paying contractors to do it.

Cramblit said that residents need to pile the leaves in the tree lines or close to the curb to be collected.

“Do not put the leaves in the streets, that is a violation of MS4 plan,” Cramblit said. MS4 refers to the city’s storm water management program.

Council chairman Chris Haney said he was happy to the have the leaf collector since the council has spent hours talking about leaves and the collection of them.

In items on the agenda, the council amended the permanent operating budget for the rest of 2023 and adopted a temporary budget for 2024.

They also passed an ordinance to create a fund for the ARPA first responder grant fund.

The city council’s next meeting will be at 6 p.m. on Nov. 20, as city ordinance requires the council to meet the Monday before Thanksgiving holiday on that Thursday.