At Tuesday’s Commissioners’ meeting, Borough commissioners addressed concerns over ordinances regarding leaf pick-up.
At Tuesday’s meeting, borough commissioners addressed concerns over ordinances regarding leaf pick-up. In public comment, residents expressed frustration with receiving tickets for piles of leaves left in the street as well as the length of time it takes for the leaves to be picked up.
The current ordinance states that fixed fines are $50 and repeat offenders will be issued a citation. Both this year and last year, an insert in residents’ tax bills outlined that citations would be issued instead of warnings.
“I’m not going to rake my lawn every day and rake from the street back onto my own curb if the borough refuses to pick it up. I think there should be some other kind of compromise. If you are going to fine people, then we have to expect that our leaves are picked up in a timely manner,” Kathy Flanagan Tully said.
“Each time our cycle came around, our area was almost completely forgotten. I made calls to public works that went unanswered,” Tully added.
“They shouldn’t have missed anything on the first pass. Now things happen, but if it’s getting to be consistent we do actually know which drivers did which routes and were responsible for which streets, so if there’s a problem with some of our employees saying that they have done something that they didn’t do, that’s something we need to know as well … we will follow up on that,” Commissioner John Moscatelli said.
Leaf trucks are due to make three passes over a six-week period. The public works department has been utilizing the resources it has within the budget, according to Moscatelli.
“Back in the day, we used to pick up leaves on the trash day and we would go around… We must have had a whole lot more equipment and a whole lot more manpower back then to make that happen. As it is now, we hire about 10 temp workers a day just to staff the leaf vehicles to get through those three passes,” Moscatelli said.
Five to six leaf trucks are in operation, and putting more trucks out would be an extremely expensive process, according to Moscatelli.
Colleen Agnew also expressed concern about tickets and the amount of time between leaf pickups. Agnew discussed a recent ticket she received on Oct. 17. She stated that seven bags of leaves were placed out in her yard for pickup and the rest were raked to the curb grass on Oct. 10. However she stated that only last week they were picked up.
“It gives Haddonfield a really bad name. It’s the joke of South Jersey right now,” Agnew said.
Moscatelli said he would have to see what the enforcement officer came up with before proceeding or making any determinations. He explained that if a resident’s leaves were blown into the street accidently, a ticket should not have been issued. He said he does not wish any residents to be fined and if there are any areas that are not being attended to, it will be addressed.
“I have no patience for that nonsense,” Moscatelli said.
In other news:
• Commissioners introduced an ordinance on first reading that holds dog owners responsible for the conduct of their pets. The ordinance is not designed for a single instance and is targeting repeat acts of damaging property, all the way to biting people and other dogs. Excessive barking and the dog causing “unsanitary, dangerous or unreasonable” conditions could result in the dog being considered a nuisance. Repeat offenders could result in penalties such as a limit to the number of dogs an owner can obtain or removal of the animal from the home.
“Hopefully we will never have to use it in the future, but it’s there in case there’s such a need,” Solicitor Mario lavicoli said.
The ordinance will move to second reading at the next commissioners meeting on Dec. 19.
• Commissioners passed a resolution to extend Iavicoli’s contract for another year, totalling $5,833.33 every month as well as reimbursement for allowable out-of-pocket costs.
• Commissioners approved a general event permit application for 2017 holiday displays for a creche dedication on Saturday, Dec. 9 at Library Point and a menorah lighting ceremony on Wednesday, Dec. 13.
