No more bagging of leaves for Oregon residents

OREGON – Oregon residents won’t have to bag leaves come next fall thanks to action by city commissioners Tuesday.

The council voted 3-0, with two members absent, to purchase a leaf vacuum that will suck up leaves from the curb.

The move comes two months after the city rented a leaf vac and offered the curbside service in December as a trial run.

“We put this in place last last year and we had nothing but positive reviews,” City Manager Darin DeHaan said at Tuesday’s meeting.

The machine will cost $130,000 and the council has yet to decide on the length of loan for its purchase.

Bill Covell, director of public works, said residents will have to rake leaves to the curb for collection.

“Our machine will be a ride-on trailer with one person driving and one person riding,” Covell said. “It will also pick up grass clippings and it will mulch. It will be able to run 4 to 5 blocks before having to be emptied.”

Covell said the new machine should lessen wear on the city’s $250,000 street sweeper that is currently used to sweep leaves from the street in an attempt to stop stormwater catch basins from clogging.

“We are relying on residents to rake the leaves to the curb line, along the length of their property rather than putting them in one big pile,” Covell said. “It’s a very simple design. It works really well.”

Covell estimated the life of the machine at 20 years.

Oregon’s leaf vac will be in production this year, but the city will rent a machine for the fall season from Bonnell, the manufacturer of the new machine.

DeHaan said the collected, mulched leaves will be taken to nearby farms to be used for livestock.

“I think this is a necessary piece of equipment,” said Commissioner Tim Krug. “It will save wear-and-tear on our street sweeper, result in less manpower and be a savings.”

Oregon is a designated as a Tree City USA and has a substantial number of mature trees. Residents currently bag leaves and place them in compostable bags or reusable cans marked with ‘X’ along the curb where they are then picked up by city workers.

Mt. Morris and Forreston already use a vacuum device to collect fallen leaves within the city limits.

Krug, Commissioner Terry Schuster, and Mayor Ken Williams voted to approve the bid for the vacuum. Commissioners Melanie Cozzi and Kurt Wilson were not present at the meeting.

DeHaan said more information will be sent to residents explaining the new leaf collection process later this year.

Oregon officially became a Tree City USA in April. Tree City USA was created by the Arbor Day Foundation in 1976, according to ArborDay.org.

A community can receive annual Tree City recognition by meeting four standards: maintaining a tree board or department, having a community tree ordinance, spending at least $2 a resident on urban forestry and celebrating Arbor Day on the last Friday of April.

For information about the tree program or leaf collection, call City Hall at 815-732-6321 or visit cityoforegon.org.