A proposal to begin a bagged leaf collection service in West Burlington was voted down last night after about a dozen residents filled City Hall to pressure the City Council against the idea.
The council was considering replacing the old leaf-dumping site, formerly located at the old public works building, with a twice-a-week leaf collection service, where residents would bag up leaves and grass trimmings and city crews would come by and collect them. That proposal was favored by Mayor Hans Trousil, who was concerned, based on a survey of residents conducted last year, that residents did not want to pay to build a new leaf dumping site at the new Public Works Building.
But residents, such as Williard Jackson, showed up in force, and they weren’t happy.
“If you can’t find a little spot out there to put our leaves, I think you’re pretty poor,” said Jackson, “If we can subsidize the pool to make it work every year, then by God, we should have a place to dump our leaves. Not put them in little bags or have to haul them all the way off to the landfill.”
The measure ultimately failed with councilmen Rod Crowner, Therese Lees, and Rick Raleigh voting no. Kara Steward and Doug Ervine voted yes. The council, afterwards, unanimously approved building a dump site, although specifics are to be determined at a later date.
Trousil told the council that he would veto any dump site proposal that does not include security measures to ensure that only West Burlington residents are allowed to use the dump site.
The site is estimated to cost between $30,000 and $80,000. It will likely be financed through an new fee for residents on their water bill.
