Town Nearly Done With Curbside Brush Pickup

The town is nearly done with its curbside brush pickup, Chief Administrative Officer Robert Skinner said.

As of Thursday afternoon (Dec. 16, 2011) he said about nine streets remained. Those included Barbourtown Road, Bunker Hill, Start Meadow, Scoville Road, West Mountain, Shingle Mill, Indian Hill and a few others.

Skinner said the Public Works Department estimated it could be finished by next Tuesday.

The town’s curbside pickup began in mid-November and cost the town very little on top of regular public works employee salaries. The rental of an industrial chipper will come in around $3,100, Skinner said. A Public Works Crew also worked overtime on two Saturdays but Skinner did not immediately have an exact cost for that expenditure.

The use of inmates to assist with cleanup ended this week but worked well, Skinner said. The Inmate work program provided the town with low level, non-violent" inmates from Somers Prison to help with the task. The first few days of the pickup two inmates assisted but shortly after three were assigned to town. Public works employees supervised them. 

“The program has been working out very well,” Skinner told selectmen Wednesday night.

In all the town’s preliminary costs for the October storm is $165,000, Skinner said Wednesday. The total, however, does not include a few items, such as the cost of school district’s food used at the emergency shelter, the grinding of storm debris and removal of the remaining “hangers” in the town’s right of way.

For many of the storm expenditures, including vehicle use, the town is eligible for 75 percent reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Wednesday selectmen approved up to $35,000 for the grinding of some 15,000 cubic yards of brush and moving the resulting 3,000 cubic yards of wood chips to another site.

Skinner estimates the removal of hanging limbs will be about $12,000.

The town is also ending its free brush disposal at the Martel Transportation property on Powder Mill Road. Saturday will be the last day residents can drop off brush free of charge. After that, permits will be required for transfer station disposal.

Today will also be the last day to get a permit to burn brush free of charge. Permits are available in the fire marshal's office until noon on Friday, Dec. 16.