TOLEDO, Ohio — With fall comes leaves, and with leaves comes leaf collection. In the city of Toledo, leaf collection will begin on Nov. 2.
Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz discussed the start date and outlined plans during his monthly Wednesdays with Wade neighborhood meeting, held virtually.
Megan Robson, with the City of Toledo's Department of Public Services, also spoke during the meeting. Robson said that trucks and crews will be out shortly to prepare for the upcoming season, but wanted to remind residents they won't be collecting leaves early.
"They're getting equipment ready, making sure the equipment's working and testing it. Just know, even if you see those crews out here in the next couple of weeks, the program isn't actually starting until November 2," said Robson. "So we would really like to remind our citizens to not push those leaves into or out onto the street until your collection date to help prevent clogging the sewers and drains."
Leaf collection is a subject that many Toledoans have strong feelings about.
Kapszukiewicz acknowledged past seasons, including 2018.
"I can say that, again, this is my third leaf collection season as mayor. The first year in 2018, it was not our best effort," said Kapszukiewicz. "I think I'll be the first to say that and take the blame for it. The weather did us no favors, that's true, but we could have done a better job."
But, Kapszukiewicz acknowledged a much stronger 2019 response that the city hopes to repeat.
"However, last year, 2019, I will be so bold as to say we did a really good job. I can say that, and I measure that by the lack of complaints we got. And the fact of the matter is that every leaf was picked up and our program was finished before the end of the calendar year, which is astounding, and that's the standard we want to hold ourselves to," explained Kapszukiewicz. "So, we did pretty well last year and we're proud of it and we want to replicate that success this year in 2020. We want to build on a really good leaf collection effort last year and do the same thing in 2020."
The city will also be utilizing the Ohio Wireless Emergency Alert System (WENS) this year, where residents can be notified by phone or text when they can anticipate leaf collection in their area.
"We encourage our citizens to sign up for WENS alerts. If citizens sign up for those WENS alerts by providing their address, they'll receive notices two weeks ahead of time as the leaf collections are coming to their area so that they can prepare and make sure they have their leaves pushed to the curb," said Robson. "Additionally, they'll receive another WENS alert when their collection day is a week out, and then also a final alert when the collection area is complete."
The website for the City of Toledo's leaf collection program says the program scheduled to take place for six weeks, in hopes of collecting the majority of leaves before the first snow.
Weather can delay collection, and the city will communicate those delays through all available channels.
When leaf collection is underway, the city's website will be updated to track crews as they work throughout your area.
The finalized schedule will be released by Oct. 19.
