"We have saved $200,000 this year," said Public Works Manager Paul Barnett, "by going to one round of curbside leaf pickup rather than two."

Barnett said that his initial concerns over synchronizing the collection schedule with the unpredictable nature of nature turned out to be for naught. 

"In all of our years of doing this, we have never seen the weather cooperate the way it has this season," he said. "It’s nothing short of miraculous, really, that things have worked out this way this year," Barnett added.

And city crews have experienced a welcomed, yet unforeseen bonus with the mild autumn weather, according to Street Cleaning Superintendent Dan Jones, who said, "Not only have we been able to stay right on our schedule, but we are collecting 32% more leaves this year with only one round of pickups than we have in previous years using two collection dates for every home."

Barnett and Jones agreed that when jobs this big rely on the whims of nature, fates and fortunes can change quickly.

"But, we’re pretty close to finishing with this year’s leaf collection, " said Jones, "and the weather forecast seems as if we’ll have continued cooperation from Mother Nature."

Mayor Don Plusquellic says the City discovered a silver lining in the necessity of reducing leaf pickups from two collections to one.

"We’ve been fortunate with this weather," he said, "and I’m not sure who to thank...but it has worked out well for us in cost savings, scheduling and in the amount of leaves we’re able to remove and compost. I just hope our winter is as kind to us when we have to remove snow."

END