With fall leaves piling up in yards and blowing into streets, the city of Fulton's stormwater drains are receiving much of the debris, prompting one council member to request a lift on the citywide burn ban.
Ward 4 Councilman Steve Moore brought up a concern he had about how some residents may be disposing of leaves on their property near the end of Tuesday's city council meeting. Moore told council members that people have been sweeping leaves into stormwater drains.
Since the Missouri Department of Natural Resources determined the city of Fulton to be noncompliant with stormwater regulations when the department inspected Fulton in mid-June, the city has prioritized stormwater pollution improvements to reach compliance and renew the city's state stormwater permit. Sweeping leaves into the street contributes to that pollution.
Moore also told the council that he voiced his concern to Fulton Director of Administration Bill Johnson Monday and they discussed a possible solution that would temporarily lift the citywide ban on leaf burning. Moore asked council members to consider lifting the leaf-burning ban so residents can burn leaves on their street on Thanksgiving weekend.
Fulton Mayor LeRoy Benton asked Fulton Fire Chief Dean Buffington to weigh in on the subject.
"One of the biggest problems we have with anybody burning in controlled burning situations right now is we have the fixed benefit (that) if it offends anybody, we can put it out," Buffington said, "There's an awful lot of people in this community that have asthma and also want to sleep with their windows open, that like to be outside and enjoy the fresh air. Smoke from the leaves just drifts and could cover and saturate an entire neighborhood, as well as being a fire danger because the leaves get to burning and they fly off in the wind or the breeze and come down two blocks down the way and start another fire. It causes more trouble than it's worth, that it would benefit, in my opinion."
Benton then called Fulton Interim City Engineer Kyle Bruemmer to the podium and asked for his opinion about burning leaves in city streets, and if the heat could cause a problem. Brummer said he did not believe so.
Following his response and brief discussion among council members, Ward 3 Councilwoman Lindsey Pace-Snook asked, "How much harder is it to put the leaves in a bag versus putting it in a pile or in a barrel to burn."
Moore said although the street sweeper does a good job removing leaves off the streets, when people never rake leaves in their yard, they blow into the street and accumulate.
Ward 2 Councilwoman Mary Rehklau asked one of the firefighters in attendance for their opinion on the matter. One firefighter expressed his concern about leaf burning because of the current drought in the county, which has already increased the risk of a fire breaking out.
The council also called on Fulton Planning and Protective Services Director Les Hudson for his opinion.
"I think we're all smart enough to know that when it hasn't rained for three weeks, we probably shouldn't be burning leaves, but leaves are a big mess," Hudson said. "It's very expensive to bag those things up ... I think that we could all rake them up, be careful and I think we can burn them without any problems."
The council decided to table Moore's proposal for its next council meeting on Nov. 24.