Will work for six weeks throughout Fort Wayne to pick up curbside branches
To see a map of the branch collection sectors, visit www.cityoffortwayne.org/branchpickupmap.
To see a map of the branch drop-off sites, visit www.cityoffortwayne.org/branchdropoff.
Mayor Tom Henry has instructed Parks and Recreation, Public Works and City Utilities to contract with private services for about six weeks to accelerate the tree limb clean-up process following December's ice storm. Mayor Henry plans to have as many as 20 crews working throughout Fort Wayne to remove branches and debris left curbside.
The additional help should have most neighborhoods picked up by the end of March, if the weather cooperates.
“Our City crews have been working diligently since the storm hit Dec. 19, but because of the volume of branches and in order to get Fort Wayne cleaned up in a timely manner, we need additional help,” Mayor Henry said. “I decided the best option for our residents was to hire private contractors but manage the effort through City departments so every street will be visited through a coordinated plan.”
The City will post a map of the 52 pruning sectors to the City's Web site. It shows the areas where City crews have already cleaned up the branches left curbside, where City crews are working currently, and the next locations to be picked up.
Under the Mayor's plan, private contractors and City crews will each pick up about half the sectors. The length of time per sector is unknown because of the varying quantities of branches and limbs. Once the contracted crews start to work, the City will have a better sense of the amount of time it takes to clear an area.
Mayor Henry plans to use local tree services and general contractors. The City also is working with supervised crews from Community Corrections to go ahead of some City crews to pull out brush in front of the chipper crews. The City has already been contact with Fort Wayne-area contractors.
“This is an opportunity to use local companies and keeps the spending here with people who live and work in Fort Wayne,” he said. “The extra crews also ensure that our City departments continue to offer the services our taxpayers expect such as pothole repair and getting our parks ready for spring recreation.”
The private contractors may cost between $300,000 and $500,000. The City will pay for it using cash reserves and $35,000 of CEDIT funds previously allocated from City Council members, but also plans to ask the Allen County Solid Waste District for funding help.
“We always have to balance the need for City services and expenditures with our resources. Our cash reserves are designed for emergencies, and this is definitely an unexpected and unanticipated incident that demands the City's response,” Mayor Henry said. “We will certainly look at any funding source, but it's nice to know we have the money on hand to cover such events.”
Fort Wayne residents need to have all tree limbs and branches at the curb by Friday, Jan. 9, to ensure all branches are ready for pick-up when the crews come through.
People no longer need to call 311 to report branches in their parkstrip. To help expedite the curbside pick-up, the City offers the following recommendations when possible:
'¢ Place branches perpendicular, not parallel, to the street
'¢ Put the branches in multiple small piles instead of a single, large pile
'¢ Trim long branches into smaller pieces
'¢ Keep the branches from extending into the street
There will only be one curbside branch collection per street.
The City will keep the drop-off collection sites for branches and limbs, where they will later be mulched, open through the end of January. They are:
'¢ Shoaff Park by Conklin Pavilion (Christmas tree drop-off site) during park hours
'¢ Tillman Park Ball Field parking lot off Hanna Street during park hours
'¢ McMillen Park in pool parking lot (Christmas tree drop-off site) during park hours
'¢ Foellinger Theater / Lincolndale lot in Franke Park ' back parking lot southwest corner (Christmas tree drop-off site) during park hours
'¢ Foster Park West in the soccer field parking lot (Christmas tree drop-off site) during park hours
'¢ Biosolids Compost Facility, 6210 Lake Ave., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Sunday, branch drop-off fees waived
'¢ National Serv-all Compost Site, 6231 MacBeth Road, 7 AM to 5 PM, Monday through Friday, and 8 AM to Noon on Saturday, branch drop-off fees waived through Jan. 17.