Grass clogs up the schedule for Public Works

Public Works Director Cory Allison addressed two issues affecting garbage pickup at Monday's meeting of Moorcroft's ruling body.

One is the inclusion of yard waste [grass clippings] in the dumpsters. Allison noted the admirable compliance with this safety directive while reiterating this advice to the public: "[The garbage truck] will not take it, he will leave it."

These seemingly innocuous clippings and other plant material actually create heat and become combustible in contained spaces like plastic bags and have caused fires in trucks and landfills.

The second issue is blocked storm drains.

"Everyone is mowing their grass and blowing it into the street," Allison explained the problem. "That isn't that big a deal except for where all our drains run together, all the grass clippings run down and we spent four hours cleaning these and...they're full again...It's just a little bit and not that big a deal usually, but when you get rain after rain...and it all runs down to the same spot"

Allison asked Police Chief Bill Bryant to enforce the municipal ordinance that addresses the blowing of yard refuse into the streets: "We just need to quit blowing the grass clippings out into the street; it ends up costing more work than it's worth for us."

Mayor Ben Glenn suggested a more educational approach with explanations on social media and Code Red.