Fletcher council approves plan to resume storm-related brush collection, excludes stumps and household trash

Fletcher — The town moved to resume limited brush-collection services to help residents clear storm-related vegetative debris, council members agreed, with staff directed to stage material at town facilities for pickup by the county contractor.

Mayor Mark said the town halted collection after the storm to avoid duplicating county work but has received increasing complaints about the pace of county removal. “We’ve come to the point … with the assistance of Public Works we can resume brush collection to help with storm-related debris,” he said, urging the program be limited to vegetative material.

Public Works director Javel “Jabo” Presley told the council crews can begin as soon as the town publicizes the rules and organizes staging locations. Presley said crews will document addresses and photograph piles the town cannot collect — such as stumps, large logs or household construction debris — and forward that information to county monitors so the county contractor (identified in the meeting as SDR) can remove those larger items later.

At the meeting, a county engineer’s estimate was cited that countywide debris totals could be as much as 1.5 million cubic yards after the storm and that about 334,000 cubic yards had been collected so far. Town officials described the new town role as targeted: pick up small brush piles to improve neighborhood safety and cleanliness, exclude stumps and very large piles the town isn’t equipped to handle, and stage accepted material at park or maintenance facilities where the county contractor will collect it and pay disposal fees.

Council members and staff discussed logistics including neighborhood routing, photographic documentation of uncollectable items, and weighing disposal costs. Presley said the town’s disposal cost is about $53 per ton at the county landfill and that bringing staged material to the county transfer point will be more efficient than earlier practice.

Town staff said they will publicize the restart with clear guidance that this is intended only for storm-related vegetative debris, and that residents should not place household trash or construction demolition materials at the curb. The council signaled consensus to authorize staff to proceed as operationally ready; a formal vote was not recorded on the floor during the discussion.

The town also noted an upcoming spring leaf pickup in the first two Mondays in April and said leaf-collection capacity depends on vehicle availability; one leaf-collection truck was lost to flooding during the storm and a replacement remains in processing for titling.

Next steps: staff will finalize staging locations and a public-notice plan, begin targeted collection in priority neighborhoods and continue coordinating with county monitors and contractor SDR for eventual county pickup of staged material.