Geneva to outsource brush pickup

Cleaning up your yard this spring in Geneva will likely cost extra.

The city council Monday night hired an outside firm to pick up brush, and is contemplating tacking a fee onto refuse bills to pay for it.

Owners of single-family homes will pay $1.70 per month for the curbside service, or a total of $20.40 per year.

Presently, brush pickup is paid for by property taxes.

Instead of having Geneva public-works employees collect brush, the city hired Kramer Tree Service of West Chicago to do it. The contract is contingent on the council officially approving the brush fee. Monday's vote on that measure was taken during a special committee of the whole session, where items are first brought up for consideration.

Kramer will pick up brush twice a month, beginning April 7, through the end of November.

The east side will be picked up the first and third weeks of the month, and the west side of town the second and fourth.

Previously, Genevans had weekly pickup in April, May and June, monthly pickup in July, August and September, and weekly pickup the first two weeks of October.

Batavia and St. Charles hire Kramer to pick up brush.

Kramer uses a machine that picks up piles of brush and puts it in a truck for off-site chipping, instead of chipping it at the curb like the city crews did. So people can put out longer, thicker pieces, up to 12 inches in diameter. Previously, they were restricted to items up to 4 feet long and 6 inches wide.

The public-works employees will instead concentrate on cutting down parkway trees infested with emerald ash borers, and repairing streets and sidewalks, said streets superintendent Stephen LeMaire.

"A $1.70 per house to have your brush picked up and have Steve's guys fill all these god-awful potholes would be a heck of a deal," Alderman Robert Piper said.

The council also plans to raise the curbside leaf pickup fee by 25 cents, to $1.85 per month.