The Ceres City Council last week held off on amending the city’s leaf and limb collection program, pending further review.

Currently the city only collects leaves and limbs at curbside in the fall and early winter, from Oct. 1 to Jan. 9, on an every-other-week basis. Previously the city picked up such materials year round.

Councilman Daniel Martinez initiated discussions in July about expanding the leaf & limb program into spring, noting that some residents still don’t know the city’s year round program has ended. That prompted Vice Mayor Bret Silveira to offer the idea of letting residents make direct arrangements with Bertolotti Disposal, the city’s garbage collection contractor, to pick up leaf and limb materials at a cost of $45.

Public Works Director Sam Royal said Bertolotti Disposal is willing to deliver a two-yard bin to customers in off-season months for the deposit of large amounts of green waste debris, such as tree limbs and trunks and brushes, for $45. The actual cost is $100 but the city would subsidize the difference of $55 through the illegal disposal fee portion built into the rate structure in 2020, said Royal.

It would be up to residents to contact Bertolotti if they have tree waste and limbs between Jan. 10 and Sept. 30.

“No monetary transaction would be facilitated through city staff,” he told the council.

Residents still have the option of trying to stuff leaves, small twigs and branches and other vegetation into their green waste cans but the size will limit how much material can be disposed of weekly.

Ceres resident John Warren, who faithfully offers input on matters, opined that the idea of having residents pay for extra service is a “good alternative rather than increasing our current garbage bills.” But he asked the city to educate citizens that no waste should be placed in the street off-season before the bin is delivered.

“What I can see happening is a big pile develops and then someone in the city sees it and brings it to the attention of the city and then the customer is told, hey, you’ve got to make arrangements with Bertolotti and it goes on and on and on sometime before the pile of trash actually gets removed – and maybe it will never be removed,” Warren told the council. “So I think it’s really important that the public be educated, know this is available, know they’ve got to pay $45 which, if you’ve got to remove a big tree or something like that, that’s a pretty reasonable fee to have it hauled away.”

Silveira said “I think it’s great that we’re finally going to allow the citizens to pay the bill if they’re going to use the service. This was not thought about lightly and a lot of discussions went into this.” He called the plan a “no brainer.”

The regular curbside pick-up now in season would not change, nor would free pickup of discarded Christmas trees through until Jan. 9.

The matter will come back in an upcoming agenda for formal action.