Public Works told the Public Safety Committee on May 28 that storm cleanup moved quickly thanks to mutual aid, contractor support and extra equipment, and presented traffic‑calming data from recent collections.
Staff said the City of St. Anne and the city of Baldwin provided chippers and the city received contractor assistance from Davey Tree Service, allowing crews to run three chippers simultaneously and reduce cleanup time by an estimated several days. Residents were given a May 30 deadline to place yard debris at the curb for chipping; some remaining logs and materials remain at the city shop but staff expect clearance soon.
On traffic calming, staff reviewed a Parkside study: the posted speed is 20 mph; the 80th percentile speed recorded was 23 mph, the 50th percentile 19 mph, and an average of 18.7 mph over the sampled period. Data showed about 1,165 vehicles during the collection window with only 13 vehicles (about 1.1 percent) recorded at 30 mph or greater. "I don't see it being a problem area," a public works official said, recommending focusing traffic enforcement on higher‑volume corridors.
Staff said they will reinstall a data collector on Rosalie (east of the swim club) at the original location for about 12 days to measure before and after speeds and will recheck the High School area on Litzinger after limiting parking north of the alley. Public Works and the communications manager met with McGrath Elementary representatives to discuss pickup and drop‑off procedures; the school resource officer conducts periodic drive‑throughs but is not stationed at every school full time.
Committee members raised an outstanding streetlight knocked down in the storm; staff said the utility (Ameren) had competing priorities during widespread outages and the city will follow up. No committee action was taken; staff will return with any new data and follow‑up on outstanding public‑works items.