ASHLAND - The return of spring means the return of the borough street sweeper and the annual cleanup week.
The schedules for both borough services were announced at the April 9 meeting of Ashland Borough Council.
The cleanup collection schedule is from April 28 to May 2 and includes the following locations:
- April 28 - Walnut and Middle streets
- April 29 - Chestnut and Market streets
- April 30 - Oakland Avenue, Hoffman Boulevard and Centre and Lehigh streets
- May 1 - Oak, Brock, Pine and Spruce streets
- May 2 - Arch, Race and Vine streets
Residents on the side streets should place their materials out for pickup on the nearby street.
The annual cleanup is paid for from a portion of the annual $40 per household sanitation fee. The borough began the annual cleanup in 2005, which have been popular for residents who can dispose of larger items not acceptable for regular trash collection. Household trash is not permitted for the cleanup. It should be placed in borough bags and picked up following the regular schedule.
All residents should have the materials on the proper street the night prior to the scheduled pickup. Any recyclable materials, such as plastic, cardboard, aluminum cans and plastic bottles, are not permitted. They should be recycled at the county drop-off recycling center at the sewage treatment plant or disposed of with the household trash.
Other materials that will not be accepted on cleanup week are tires; automotive parts; batteries; construction materials such as plaster, shingles and concrete; yard waste; mercury/hazardous materials; computers; televisions and electronic equipment; refrigerators and air conditioners.
Only Ashland residents can participate in the cleanup. Police will patrol to prevent residents from other communities from bringing in trash, and anyone caught will be prosecuted. Residents who observe dumping violations should call police through the county communications center at 570-462-1991.
The street sweeper will begin operating on May 5, but will no longer clean streets on a weekly basis.
"The street sweeper will only be out one week per month," Raymond Jones Jr., borough manager, said.
Residents are asked to cooperate and remove their vehicles from the streets to be swept. Vehicles parked on the scheduled streets during sweeping hours will be ticketed. Police will not travel with the sweeper but will ticket vehicles in the zone during the no-parking hours.
The sweeper will not run in heavy rains or on borough holidays. Fridays will be used to sweep for missed days during the week.
The streets to be cleaned are as follows:
- Monday: Both sides of all the even-numbered side streets, including Front Street. No parking from 6 to 10 a.m.
- Tuesday: Both sides of all the odd-numbered side streets, including Hoffman Boulevard. No parking 6 to 10 a.m.
- Wednesday: North side of Race, Market, Centre, Walnut and Pine streets and the south side of Arch, Chestnut, Middle, Spruce and Brock streets and Oakland Avenue. No parking 5 to 9 a.m.
- Thursday: South side of Race, Market, Centre, Walnut, and Pine streets and the north side of Arch, Chestnut, Middle, Spruce and Brock streets and Oakland Avenue. No parking 5 to 9 p.m.
The scheduled weeks are May 5 to 9, June 2 to 6, July 7 to 11, Aug. 4 to 8, Sept. 1 to 5 and Oct. 6 to 10.
There is also a schedule change in ash collection, which will now be held bi-weekly starting Friday. The following collection will be May 9.
During the public portion, Michael Ghannoum asked the council for permission to place a Dumpster behind his property at 714-718 Centre St.
"Council told him to come back in a month because we're working on a Dumpster ordinance," Jones said. "We have a Dumpster ordinance now, but we're editing it to include storage containers, like those pods. The thought was that we may want to add more to it. We had it finished and ready for advertising, but when he (Ghannoum) came, it spurred additional discussion."
The council adopted a resolution to apply for a grant from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for the Eureka Park Phase II project.
"We applying for about $60,000, which will be used for a tot lot for children ages 2 to 5, some handicap accessibility, such as paving trails in the park, and a volleyball court, though we're not sure about that yet," Jones said.
Jones said the borough would be responsible for a 20 percent match, though he said that would be covered by using borough employees to provide the labor as the in-kind match.