Great Falls Park and Recreation’s annual leaf pickup starts Oct. 27, with less manning than the city forester can remember in his 35 year career.
This year’s program is scheduled to run through Dec. 5.
In years past, Park and Rec’s forestry division set a specific schedule for leaf pickup, but with fewer staff, City Forester Todd Seymanski, said that “I can’t in good conscious say we can do all this in three days. Maybe we can, maybe we can’t. It’s gonna be tight.”
The city is now operating with two crews, the same as the past two years, but this year, Seymanski said he lost one full time person and two seasonal positions in the budget, so if anyone gets sick or has to be out, they’re down to one crew, which will slow leaf pick up.
Great Falls leaf pickup starts week of Oct. 27
“In my 35 years, we never ran it with this little manpower,” so instead, the city will update its interactive map showing which blocks have been completed and on Fridays, will post where they’ll be operating the following week.
The city’s leaf pickup areas are:
- Area 1: the upper northside, streets and avenues from Central Avenue to 5th Avenue North from 23rd to 38th Street
- Area 2: northside, streets and avenues from Central Avenue to 8th Avenue North from 15th to 23rd Street
- Area 3: lower northside, avenues and streets from Central Avenue to 8th Avenue North from Park Drive to 15th Street
- Area 4: lower southside, streets and avenues from Central Avenue to 9th Avenue South from 2nd to 13th Street
- Area 5: westside, avenues and streets from Central Avenue West to 4th Avenue Southwest from 3rd to 11th Street Southwest
- Area 6: avenues and streets from Central Avenue to 3rd Avenue South from 14th to 23rd Street
The weather is also impeding operations as the leaves haven’t fallen yet, so Seymanski said they made the call Friday afternoon whether to start pickup on Oct. 27, or wait a few more days for more leaves to fall since it doesn’t make sense to start and only pick up a light amount of leaves. He said that leaves had been falling quickly, but this spell of warmer weather slowed that natural process. If there’s a frost, or wind, leaves will fall quicker. Based on the weather forecast, they opted to start pickup on Monday.
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The low manning makes it more important this year for residents in the boulevard district to have their leaves raked and ready to go.
Leaves should be raked out to the boulevard by 7 a.m. on Monday of your scheduled week.
Boulevard district residents are asked to:
- place your leaf piles on the boulevard, next to the curb, on the street side of your boulevard residence
- not place leaves on the sidewalk or in the street gutter, as rain, snow, and vehicles driving on the piles make it impossible to pick up the leaves
- not place leaves around parked vehicles, as the machines need a minimum of two feet of clearance around of any obstacle
- not place leaves around tree bases, signs, light poles, or any other obstacles
If you bagged your leaves, they’ll be collected at a later time by staff as time allows throughout the leaf pickup program.
Leaf piles that include branches, grass clippings, garden waste and pet waste cause damage to the equipment and will not be picked up. Pickup for those items should be arranged with your sanitation provider.
Due to the staff shortage, if leaves are not ready when crews go through your area, they won’t backtrack for collection and there will be no second pass through.
Vehicles should be removed from the street on the scheduled pickup week to allow for vacuuming and public works will street sweep after pickup.
Forestry crews were out last week, testing equipment and pickup up some leaf piles.
City crews haven’t manually raked in years and have equipment that takes a truck operator and a vacuum chute operator on the back of the vehicle. That’s what makes moving vehicles from the street important, he said, since the hose can’t reach all the way to sidewalk from the street.
The newer city equipment only has right hand chutes and crews can’t drive against traffic on the one-ways, Seymanski said.
The “lefty machine” is one of the department’s oldest pieces of equipment, but can be converted to a left hand side chute, so again this year, if your residence is on the left hand side of a one-way in any of the areas, your residence will not follow the posted schedule and will instead be picked up intermittently throughout the leaf pickup schedule.
“When that one breaks, I’m not sure what we’re going to do,” Seymanski said of the lefty machine.
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He asks drivers to be aware of the leaf pickup vehicles for safety of the operators.
Leaf pickup is only in the boulevard district, where residents pay an additional assessment for the service, as well as the care and maintenance of more than 15,000 street trees, including pruning, removal, planting and streetscape design.
Seymanski’s division is also continuing their tree maintenance efforts.
In June, certified arborists recorded city trees that were 25-45 percent dead. Those were trimmed to see if they’d respond and bounce back, Seymanski said.
In late August, the same arborists marked trees that were 50 percent of more dead and city crews will start cutting those down after leaf pickup is completed.
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It’s surprising sometimes, Seymanski said, that a 45 percent dead tree can bounce back and live on for more years.
“Everytime we cut one of those big trees down, we lose a little bit of history. Some of them date to the time of Paris Gibson,” Seymanski said.
Park and Rec is still replacing trees as allowed, primarily in the outer boulevard, where it’s easier for maintenance and doesn’t crowd buildings.
Fiber optic cable is also being installed in the boulevard district, he said, which will hinder tree planting, so that may be on hold until the able installation is done and may prevent future tree planting.
In Gibson Park, Seymanski said he marked three trees on Oct. 23 that will get replaced. He said the department is continuing to replant in the parks as their budget allows and donations for tree plantings are currently limited to parks and memorial trees.
The natural resources division’s funding has been discussed over the last year in terms of increasing costs without increased revenues.
The fund includes the boulevard district assessment revenue, making up 68 percent of the fund this year, but those funds can only be used for work within that district.
In this year’s budget the assessment was increased 15 percent, generating an estimated $613,132 and $256,277 was transferred in from the general fund, and $19,000 in charges for service, for a total revenue of $904,955.
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The division’s expenses are projected at $1,075,215 and the city has been using the reserves to cover the deficit for for several years. The target fund balance for this fund is 17 percent, to ensure cash on hand for operational expenses, but it’s projected to be $7,917 by the end of the current budget year, which is 0.74 percent, according to city documents.
The boulevard assessment increase was six percent in 2024 and 2023. It was 12 percent in 2022 and there were no increased in 2021 or 2020 due to COVID.
City officials discussed the natural resources division budget during the Dec. 3 City Commission work session.
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Steve Herrig, former Park and Rec director, said the division manages planting, pruning, trimming, disease inspection and removal of all city owned trees. They also maintain flower beds and the compost site, and do leaf pickup in the boulevard district.
The city maintains about 34,000 trees in the boulevard, parks, golf courses and other public property.
City arborists conduct code enforcement of diseased trees and handle tree related disputes between neighbors, Herrig said.
Herrig said the natural resources division has been working on the same general fund subsidy since 2011 but expenses have increased by about 50 percent since that time.
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Melissa Kinzler, city finance director, said that 57 percent of the natural resources division budget comes from the boulevard assessment, which is a specific geographic area and those funds can only be used within that district.
Kinzler said the city has the ability to increase that assessment and has over the years, but since it’s restricted to use within the district, the overall division is strained without increasing other funding for the remaining operations.
Commissioner Rick Tryon asked how long the city could sustain the division without more general fund subsidy.
Herrig said that outside the boulevard district, the division maintains city parks, two golf courses and other public property.
He said in December that the boulevard district makes up the majority of the division’s funding and pays for four arborists.
Two other arborists maintain city parks and are funded by the park maintenance district.
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The general fund subsidy largely goes toward materials and equipment costs, which are increasing, Herrig said.
“How long is this sustainable? I don’t know,” Herrig said.
Kinzler said it’s not a sustainable funding model.
She said the city wide park maintenance district took some pressure off and the department made internal changes to increase efficiencies, but “I think it is at the breaking point.”
Mayor Cory Reeves asked in December who determines the boulevard district boundaries.
Herrig replied that is set by the commission.
Commissioners established the boulevard district in 1946 and last amended the boundary in 1987, according to city documents.
Homeowners can petition to be added into the district, which would require commission approval, but Herrig said that wouldn’t necessarily increase revenues but would increase their workload.
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Kinzler said the city attempted a citywide tree assessment in the past, but it became cost prohibitive.
Park maintenance funds can be used for maintenance and some of that is directed to city trees, she said, but nearly half of those funds were tied up in debt service on the new aquatic center.
Tryon said he didn’t believe taxpayers would appreciate an increase in the park district assessment so the other option would be to increase revenues or the general fund subsidy, which he said would take away from public safety.
Kinzler said that’s a commission decision and that general fund dollars can be used for parks, which in some ways help public safety as there are lots of studies showing how parks and trees help communities. She said she doesn’t see trees and parks excluded from the general fund.
“It’s a commission decision on your priorities,” Kinzler said in December.
Tryon said he views public safety as fire, police and courts.
Mayor Cory Reeves said they’d discuss it at the commission retreat in January but asked if sister cities had similar programs for trees, to which Kinzler said it varies.
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She said trees are also a liability.
The city forester had a list of hazard trees that they worked through for several years.
She said it’s dangerous not to trim trees and it’s the city’s responsibility to take care of the trees and parks it owns.
“Bad trees are bad for the city,” Kinzler said.
Reeves asked if Herrig and Kinzler had a recommendation or proposal during the meeting.
Herrig said not at that point and he wanted commissioners to hear City Manager Greg Doyon’s thoughts on the budget first.
