New Leaf Collection Proposal: Enforcement, Enforcement, Enforcement

Instead of telling residents to this fall, the village will simply be asking them to abide by the rules long in effect.

Unlike past years, those not following the regulations will be facing stiff fines, staff said Wednesday night.

"We will just be strictly enforcing those to make sure we don't have the leaf/branch issues that we had in 2012," Village Manager Ken Gabbert said. 

If you don't remember some of the basics of leaf collection protocal, the village will be reminding you. Count on it, was the message.

Staff hammered some of the basic no-no's Wednesday night. The biggest, arguably, is the restriction on putting the leaf piles out more than seven days before Streets is scheduled to pick them up.

"We made it clear if you put it out more than seven days in advance, you will get a summons," Gabbert said. "That obviously will keep those streets a little bit cleaner."

He also noted that per village ordinance, residents cannot place a leaf pile within ten feet of a storm drain. 

The other main component of the slightly revised plan is to ban residents on main roads from putting leaves out in the roads and must be past the sidewalk. 

Councilman Tom Riche expressed concern that some of the narrow side streets (like South Murray or Cottage Pl.) become impassable and pose a danger. However, no change is planned for those roads, Streets Division head John Spano said.

"If they put them out when they're supposed to, there won't be a problem," he added, noting Greg Moritz, of Property Maintenance, will be making rounds. Workers will also be tasked to enforce the rules, Gabbert said.

The "education program" will be disseminated through Facebook, Twitter, the village website, and on printed material sent to homes, according Spano.

Challenges await, however. If a neighbor's landscaper blows the leaves onto the street in front of your property, there's a good chance you'll be receiving a ticket in the mail, to the tune of $100 plus processing fees.

The summonses were proposed to be issued as liens on property to avoid the slow pace of the courts system, Gabbert said.

"It allows us to get the job done, it allows us to get the leaves out of the street...it's really the only way to get on board with this so people know we're serious."

However, according to Village Attorney Matt Rogers, summonses have to legally go through the courts system for challenges.

They'll be discussing the legal issues further before the council signs off on the policy change.