Future of town’s loose-leaf pickup service in doubt

Riverhead’s loose-leaf pickup service may soon be a thing of the past, forcing homeowners to find alternatives to the free service historically provided by the town highway department.  

The State Department of Environmental Conservation put the town “on notice” to fix or change the program, Supervisor Yvette Aguiar told the town board at today’s work session. 

The DEC notified the highway department early this month that it can no longer use one of the three sites where it’s been dumping leaves picked up in the fall. A second site is already at capacity, Highway Superintendent George Woodson said at the town board work session today.

The annual loose leaf pickup program has vexed the highway superintendent for some time.

Woodson brought a list of 16 issues to the board. First, there’s the cost, which Woodson said runs to $250,000 a year. That’s been borne by the highway department out of the highway fund, he said. That figure doesn’t even include wear-and-tear on highway department trucks and equipment. Beyond that, Woodson cited nuisance issues, like residents who don’t follow instructions and commercial landscapers taking advantage of a program intended to help homeowners. The piles of leaves clog storm drains, adding to the highway department’s headaches, Woodson said. 

An overriding concern is the timing of the leaf-pickup service,. It coincides with the period of time when the highway department has to deal with putting up snow-fencing, to make sure the roads in the town’s farm belt can remain passable.

“Sooner or later you’re gonna get caught with snow and the snow fences are not gonna be up and we’re gonna be worried about picking up leaves,” said Woodson. 

The highway superintendent has discussed these issues with the town board in the past and has advocated for terminating the service. 

The town’s garbage district contract requires the carting company to pick up bagged leaves, so effectively taxpayers are paying for the service twice.

Leaf pickup is a popular service and town officials have been reluctant to even consider eliminating it.

“I respect what you’ve done and what you’ve been doing,” Councilwoman Jodi Giglio told Woodson. “I also know we got a lot of push-back from the residents when we broached this five or six years ago. People were lined up. ”

“Even the changes this year [to the recycling program] caused a lot of drama out in the street,” Councilman Tim Hubbard said, referring to changes 

But the inability to dispose of all the leaves the highway department picks up each fall may be the game-changer. The DEC has notified the town that it can no longer dump leaves at a site on Manor Road in Jamesport. A site in Wading River is already full. The only place left is the town’s own composting site on Young’s Avenue — and that has limited capacity.

Riverhead is the last town in the area to still provide free bags and loose-leaf pickup, Woodson said. Southold, East Hampton and Southampton have already eliminated the service. 

“I think it’s time to really look at this issue and see where we go from here,” Woodson said. 

“If the public wants it, I think it should be a referendum item and an election,” said Giglio. “I think that if they want it, they’ve gotta pay for it in their taxes.” Giglio said she plans to contact the DEC and hopes to reach a compromise and reopen the Jamesport dump site.  

“Don’t bank on it,” Councilwoman Catherine Kent said.

Woodson urged the board to adopt an alternative to the loose-leaf pickup program. 

“I don’t want to get caught rushing to make decisions later on,” he said. 

Board members agreed to look over other towns’ policies and discuss this issue again in a few weeks.