Dates For City Wide Clean Up Set

The fourth week in April every year the Fairbury Public Works Department organizes a City Wide Clean-up.In 2021 changes were made to the Fairbury City Wide Clean-up procedure: the number of scheduled clean-up days went from five to three in Fairbury and one in Jansen. Individual pickups were required to be scheduled one week prior to pickup. The mattress drop off site was removed and mattresses were accepted at the transfer station year round. The transfer station free dumping for residents was moved to the first week in May.In a memo to the Public Works Committee, Development Services Director Laura Bedlan wrote, “Overall, these modifications to the procedure were well received and allowed the number of staff and time required for this event to be reduced.”Although the overall numbers for total tonnage hauled have been on a downward trend this is still considered a widely utilized event and staff recommends it be scheduled again for 2022.The Public Works Department recommended the 2022 City Wide Clean-Up be scheduled for Fairbury on April 25-27 and Jansen on April 29.Free Dump DaysHistorically, the week following the City Wide Clean-up the public works department organized a Business Clean-up week called ‘Free Dump Days for Businesses.’ In 2021, due to changes in the City Wide Clean-up procedure, changes were also made to the ‘Free Dump Days for Business’ which would now allow residents and businesses to dump for free at the transfer station during the week after City Wide Clean-up.In 2021 the changes were made and the city hosted their first ‘Free Dump Days.’ According to Bedlan, the event was well received by Fairbury sanitation customers, allowing them to haul items that may have not been eligible for Clean-up week and reducing the pressure on transfer station staff and haulers during Clean-up Week.`Free Dump Days’ for all regularly scheduled monthly business and residential customers is set for May 2-6.2021 PerformanceTotals from the street department trucks and residents exempt in 2021 were 40.72 tons. The trend is down overall roughly 40 percent, per Bedlan. There was no significant change to overall sanitation pickup tonnage when compared to their average weekly tonnage.Fairbury Clean-up tonnage went down by roughly 25 percent. Jansen Clean-up tonnage went down by roughly 90 percent. Bedlan indicated this can be attributed to the fact that 2020 was the first year that Jansen was offered curbside City Wide Clean-up causing the 2020 totals to trend high.Resident hauled tonnage went down by roughly 35 percent. This decline can also be attributed to Jansen’s addition to the City Wide Clean-up schedule in 2020.Bedlan said reducing cleanup days from five to four, have helped the city to continue to reduce staffing for this service from eight in 2019, seven in 2020 and 6.5 on average in 2021.Bedlan wrote, “Staff was satisfied with Clean-up Week results, there were relatively few complaints and/or nuisance piles that had to be dealt with when Clean-up Week and Free Dump Days were finished. Additionally, the new free mattress dumping service, now regularly allowed at the transfer station is utilized on a regular basis and Fairbury sanitation customers dump roughly three mattresses a week for free. This Reduces the number of illegally dumped mattresses and appropriately disposes of mattresses that could potentially pose health hazards. Based on these numbers staff recommends the rules and procedure for Clean-Up Week and Free Dump Days remain the same for the upcoming year.As always, we will continue our efforts to educate the public on what can go in the trash all year long and what the rules are prior to cleanup week. Once again, all in all, Clean-up Week went well and we appreciate the city’s willingness to work with us.”

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