Peterson: Town Should Pick Up Branches for Residents After 'Bad Storms'

Discussed Medfield town issues with Town Administrator Mike Sullivan ahead of the Sept. 6 Board of Selectmen meeting and I suggested to him that I thought in the future the town should pick up from the curb the tree branches that residents stack there after bad storms, such as last week. 

Maybe take everything up to 4 inches in diameter. The DPW did a great job with the clean up they did this past week and they have the equipment to handle the tree trunks and limbs that most residents just do not possess. The DPW clean up that happened was an example of government working really well for its citizens.

Sullivan feels it would cost the town too much to have the DPW pick up everyone’s branches and that some would take advantage to clean out their brush piles. I suggested that we have DPW Superintendent Ken Feeney report to the Board of Selectmen on how much it might cost to do in the future, plus I do not think we should scuttle the idea out of fear of a few bad apples taking unfair advantage – they can be spoken to individually and/or their piles just left – perhaps say we will only collect freshly fallen branches.  But the cost does need to be considered.

It is really up to residents whether they want such a service or not, as if so, they will pay for it. We would want to know the cost before implementing it. It is probably also  another good question to ask the residents in the town by means of online polling that I asked Assistant Town Administrator Kristine Trierweiler to implement to ask residents about whether they want the town to pay for mailboxes damaged by the town’s plows.  

Makes sense to me to ask residents whether they want the town to provide a particular service or not, then, if there is enough support for what is proposed, to consider moving forward.

Better Communication with the Town's Residents:

I wished the town had everyone’s e-mail address this past week so that a blast e-mail notice could have gone out to advise of the transfer station being open every day for residents to cleanup from Irene.  Having residents' e-mail addresses would have been one of the side benefits of the town e-newsletter I proposed, as probably most residents would sign up for the town e-newsletter in order to stay informed and then the town captures their e-mail addresses to use for other important communication, like the transfer station being open all week in the aftermath of Irene. 

To read more posts on Peterson's blog, "Medfield 02052," click here.