Leaf Pick-Up Falls Behind in Chatham Borough

Bob Venezia, the head of the , told the Chatham Borough Council Monday night that the second round of leaf pick-up has been postponed due to the early winter snowstorm in October.

"We got through the first round," Venezia said, but he said the DPW will likely only complete one more round before winter weather sets in. Typically, he said, the DPW completes three rounds of leaf collection in the fall between late October and early November.

Part of the reason for the delay is brush pick-up from , which left trees, branches and wires down all over town. Since the storm, Venezia said, the department's efforts have been .

Venezia said he doubts leaf pick-up will begin before Nov. 28. He will devote two trucks to leaf pick-up, and each truck requires a team of four DPW employees. The machines do not have the ability to collect sticks or branches as well as leaves.

Each leaf vacuum can collect about 150 cubic yards of leaves per day. Venezia said the DPW has between 5,000 and 6,000 cubic yards of leaves to pick-up as of Monday, Nov. 14, and the volume will only increase before Nov. 28.

Then, Venezia said, it is only a matter of time before the winter weather begins, which slows production. An additional strain is that with the start of the holiday season, many employees have put in for vacation days. "I'm looking at 16 to 20 working days. That puts us in a bad spot also, because usually by the first week of December I'm already stripping down two trucks and putting [winter equipment] on them," Venezia said.

Council President James Lonergan asked residents to show patience with the DPW, given all they have done and have yet to do. "This round [of leaf pick-up] is going to be extremely slow," said Lonergan.

The council asked that any able-bodied residents bring their leaves and brush to the mulch area behind , which is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and Saturday noon to 4 p.m. They also asked Venezia to provide an update on leaf collection at the Nov. 28 council meeting.