Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Council talks leaves, property

Condemnations, leaves and the Nevada County Hospital building were on the table as city council members met on Sept. 17. A discussion of the citys electric service was not.

Months ago, the board approved an ordinance banning the burning of leaves. Now city officials are faced with the problem of picking up those leaves in a timely manner with existing equipment and personnel. When the ordinance was initially discussed, Prescott Mayor Howard Taylor told the board that the city has equipment suitable for picking up leaves that are simply piled next to the street. Taylor also predicted that the leaves could be disposed of without the need to hire additional employees.

During the Sept. 17 meeting, Councilman Gary Loe asked if the council could consider amending the ordinance so that residents could burn leaves one or two days each month.

There are some problems with the current policy, according to Taylor. The machine cant pick up wet leaves.

Its going to be a problem keeping them all picked up, Taylor said, citing recent rains that prevented any leaf pickups. We may have to hire one more guy to work on this. Later, Taylor said, We may have to put a couple or three people on the leaf truck.

Councilman Jerry Wilson said the rain shouldnt be a huge issue.

(Residents) can put them in a bag as easy as they can burn them, Wilson said.

Taylor said the city prefers that the leaves not be bagged, but should be piled near the street. That in itself has created another problem.

Leaves that are too far from the street cant be reached by the citys equipment. Leaves too near the street are blown away by passing cars.

By the time they rake them up and put it on the asphalt, theyll wind up back in the ditch, said Loe.

There was no action taken on the ordinance during the meeting and no one made a motion to change the existing policy. The current city ordinance states that a person cant burn leaves but can burn limbs. Pine straw is not specifically addressed.

In other business, Taylor said there is a lien against the Christopher Oil Company property. The council approved the condemnation of that property earlier this year after owners promised to clean it up and make repairs, but didnt take any action.

Taylor said the property on Second Street where a house burned months ago has been purchased by a local church and that cleanup on that property is well underway.