City receives good response from local contractors inquiring about limb pick-up
Following Mayor Tom Henry's announcement Thursday that the City will hire private contractors, the City received numerous calls from companies and individuals interested in helping to speed clean up of limbs and branches left curbside following the Dec. 19 ice storm.
“My office and 311 have been inundated with calls from contractors wanting to assist the City in collecting debris from the storm. I've been impressed with the response we received from qualified companies,” Mayor Henry said. “I am eager to help put local companies to work in Fort Wayne neighborhoods and get our City cleaned up.”
Depending on weather, some crews could begin Saturday with others starting Monday. The contractors will either haul away the branches to the City's drop-off locations or use a chipper on site to turn them into mulch.
The City received more than 100 inquiries today from tree services, landscapers and contractors and is contacting qualified companies in Fort Wayne or Allen County for cost estimates. The City has a sufficient number of potential contractors and does not need additional calls.
Fort Wayne residents need to have all tree limbs and branches at the curb by today, to ensure all branches are ready for pick-up when the crews come through. There will only be one curbside branch collection per street.
The City has posted a map of the 52 pruning sectors on 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, and the next locations to be picked up as well as sections covered by private contractors.
To see a map of the branch collection sectors, visit www.cityoffortwayne.org/branchpickupmap.
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
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.
To see a map of the branch drop-off sites, visit www.cityoffortwayne.org/branchdropoff.
Mayor Henry is also asking for residents' stories of people, businesses and organizations who stepped up to help their fellow citizens during the aftermath of the storm and power outage. They can send him a note on the City's website to tell him about warm-hearted individuals who made a difficult situation a little more bearable for others. Submissions can be made until Feb. 2 at www.cityoffortwayne.org/warmhearts.