Concerning Leaf Pick up

[MrsB]

Driving around town I realized that the huge majority or residents do not know what the snow shelf is. You know- the part of your property that you should be putting the leaves on. So for those of you who don’t know, the snow shelf is that space between you and the road. If you have a side walk it is the green part between the side walk and the street.
When you dump all of your leaves in the street it makes a mess, is dangerous for people to drive in, and most importantly it makes the job of picking up the leaves much harder than it has to be. I am sure that if this was to happen and people actually followed directions for a change the task of removing the leaves would go much faster, in turn costing less money in employee wages and damage to equipment. For a town that is constantly complaining about the taxes they pay for these very services it only makes sense for its citizens to expedite the process by following the guidelines set by the people who do the job. My suggestion is that in the future the town charges the residents that clog up the streets with their leaves. Not only would that provide some relief for the added financial burden, but I bet that it would happen a lot less. Apparently Wethersfield residents only understand things when it is communicated through their wallets.

[SyZyGy]

I feel the greatest problem is that vast majority the public - though they are responsible for knowing the laws, technically - needs to be continually or periodically reminded what the rules, regulations and laws in town are. It is a matter of the Town making a much better effort to communicate this to the residents.

Yes, the Town puts a reminder on their website; how many people actually visit the home page of the Town's site to even see it?

Yes, incidental messages are made during town (Council) meetings, either by members of the public or by a Councilor; but, how many people watch each council meeting all the way through (why not have a section in each town council meeting right up front ("Important notices to the public this week!")? These could replace some of the meaningless, time-consuming "reports" made at the beginning of many of the Council meetings - items which could easily be handled by a paper reports - but which are primarily used to show the public how well the council is doing its job(?).

Yes, private, supportive websites in town (like Wethersfield.com and Wethersfield.net) post notices like this prominently on their websites. How many members of the public have computers and log onto these sites with any regularity; how many people don't and would miss the messages anyway?

What more could be done before the Town gets "heavy handed" with "leaf tickets" and fines? (This is unlikely to happen! What incumbent councilor wants to field calls from ignorant or impaired, irate home owners who got such a ticket or fine? You can be sure that WPD doesn't want to be instructed to issue such tickets; frankly they DO have more important functions to perform.

Why not a "quarterly" mailing to all property owners or residents in town? It could include an official notice / reminder to the public what their civic responsibilities are, what rules they have to follow, what opportunities are coming up, what resources they have at their finger tips (phone) to help them help make this town better, etc., etc.

The council or Manager could even form a "Wethersfield Quarterly Bulletin Advisory Committee" - WQBAC- of residents to help in soliciting, vetting and promoting items to go in the bulletin? The manager could solicit CV/résumé's of interested candidates to make sure that only the most qualified would be seated on the A/C.

The bulletins could be issued on Sept. 1 (for Fall - 3 months), Dec. 1 (for Winter - 4 months), April 1 (for Spring - 3 months) and optionally July 1 (for Summer - 2 months). The A/C would also have liaisons from the WPD, Physical Service, etc., etc. Naturally there would also have to be ex officio (non-voting) members of the council assigned to it. It would adhere to all of the rules and regulations of the town Code/Charter, including posting of agenda and the timely publishing of the minutes of the meetings. You get the idea.

It could even be privately (without any public oversight) "funded" by a coterie of generous, civic minded golfers or bulldog-necked, well-hung, testosterone-laden former jocks during the "Annual Town Manager's Golf Tournament". Their funds would be kept in a secret account or shoe box under the bed of the president of the organization (Wethersfield Jox Organization, a PAC - WJO or just JO for short). This is purely hypothetical, but it might just work.

If every household in town is mailed such an official notice (granted, this is all superfluous), no one could say "I didn't know I had to do that" when the WPD officer (deputized Phys.Serv. employees?) hands them a "leaf ticket" or "sidewalk ticket" or "snowshelf parking" ticket" or "dog poop ticket" or "feral cat ticket" or "speaking more than 5 minutes at town council ticket" or overnight street parking ticket or whatever.

[MrsB]

Okay, agreed. But it is published in Wethersfield Life as well, that is free and every mailbox gets one.
If you know when your leaves are getting picked up you know what the rules are. Just my two cents.

Really, I am most concerned about the danger of having all those piles in the road. Oh, and two years ago when it snowed before leaf pickup, the plows brought every pile of leaves from the street around the corner and dumped them basically in my driveway entrance. I was digging myself out for a week!

Maybe the library/town hall sign on the SD can have a notice on it

[SyZyGy]

Thanks for reminding me! I completely forgot about Wethersfield LIFE. Supposedly it has 100% penetration in Wethersfield: all households. Unfortunately it IS only once a month (who actually reads it; who reads the whole thing?). It makes up in penetration what it lacks in repetition potential; Wethersfield POST is a weekly (with low subscription levels) and the Hartford Courant, with moderate penetration here, would not be likely to run the same bulletin more than once, despite its daily publication. But, yes, print media too. Just my two bits.