The Avon Lake Public Works department has had an eventful year and expects a number of items to pop up after the new year. But for right now, the department has a few important items to share with residents in their ongoing efforts to keep the city safe, neat and tidy.
And that starts with branches, leaves and trees.
Public works crews will be working throughout Avon Lake in the coming weeks to pick up lawn debris. Public Works Department director Jonathan Liskovec said the city has trucks out in force currently running throughout the city and wrapping up a complete sweep off the city, particularly curbside branch and leaf collection.
Leaf collection crews began their last round of collection for the year on December 23, and working east to west, they've quite literally swept the city clean of leaves. If residents still have lawn debris, but your road has already been swept, he asked that you call public works. Liskovec says to make sure residents rake and neatly stack long, narrow piles to make it easier for the crews to collect. He also reminded folks not to rake items into the road.
And what happens to all of this yard waste? Well, it helps to further beautify the city. What is collected by crews is then taken to the public works facility and it is composted. That compost, then, is available for residents to pick up in the spring and use it in their gardens and landscaping, further improving the soil of Avon Lake homes.
The city received a grant from the Ohio Environmental Protection agency recently that enabled them to upgrade their composting facilities. It takes approximately nine months to fully process. And according to Liskovec, the compost has been a hit among residents.
"They can just come to the city facility, and it is free. They've got to bring their own shovels or buckets or whatever, and honestly, folks come out of the woodwork for this," he said. "It's kind of a full cycle thing where we pick it up, then compost it, and the residents pick it up from us and take it back to where it all started from."
The same is done with branches as that is turned into mulch for city properties and residents may also pick that up.
Liskovec added that yard waste carts will conclude at the end of December and take a two-month hiatus before returning in March. He explained that residents can still put those out for collection in January and February, however for those two months, that yard waste would not be taken for composting and instead would end up in the solid waste facility.
"For the residents that are trying to be as green and environmentally friendly as possible, that's just something that they may wish to pause until March if they're wanting their yard waste to go toward composting," Liskovec explained.
He added that the city will have the first two full weeks of January dedicated to gathering Christmas trees. The real kind, of course.
"This is the one time of year that we collect every area within the city, because the city has privately managed streets where typically certain city services don't apply," he explained. "But this is one event that we collect every tree that is set out. It doesn't matter where you live.
"Just a friendly reminder to remove all the lights and remove all your ornaments. We just want the tree," Liskovec smiled.
The department will also be debuting two brand new snow and ice trucks Santa brought them for Christmas. Liskovec said the Avon Lake snow fleet is ready to roll out when winter weather strikes.
"We're going to be doing training on the new trucks and then they'll be hitting the roads this snow season," Liskovec said. ""When we get heavy snow, we ask that residents don't park on the streets and don't shovel your snow into the roadway. It'll end up getting plowed right back into your driveway and create a snow mound on the apron. This can create safety issues as well, as it melts and refreezes causing a serious ice condition."
He also reminds drivers to give the snowplows space, especially in adverse driving conditions and active snowfall.