"I'd like to do away with it completely and let the (street) department go back to what it's supposed to be doing," Fox said.

Councilman Sterling Meals said a city not having a least one annual cleanup was "very unusual."

Some council members said they would have liked to give residents more notice that they wouldn't be doing the Spring Cleanup because furniture and large appliances are usually picked up for that cleanup that won't be picked up this Fall. Only yard waste will be picked up for the cleanup planned to start on Nov. 16.

Councilman Justin Begnoche said the cleanups were a good service that helped residents get rid of waste they may not necessarily get rid of on their own without the cleanups.

"I'm one who doesn't use it because I'm 35 years old and I've got a truck, but not everyone does," Begnoche said.
Streets Commissioner Greg Jensen estimated the department spends six weeks a year picking up waste between the two cleanups.

"I've been struggling with how time we spend doing other things," Jensen said. "Should we be fixing streets and alleys or doing these cleanups? We've been doing less and less street and alley work since I've been here."

To cut down time spent on the cleanups, Councilwoman McKenna Porter suggested the city set up and man dumpsters people could bring their trash to. She said that's what was done at other cities she's lived in.

"People got to take responsibility for their own trash eventually," Porter said.

The city can also enforce its nuisance ordinance more, which doesn't allow trash to be piled up or old furniture or appliances to be sitting out. The council asked Police Chief Bill Robinson how many tickets the police department writes.

City officers wrote a bunch of nuisance tickets in the spring so the city judge needed more hours, Robinson said.

"I think the city's in pretty good shape," he said. "We're better than what we were."


City will pick up glass with recyclables

The Ad Hoc Recycling Committee and City Administrator Cheryl Beatty announced Tuesday night that the city will start picking upglass with recycling pickup as soon as the recycling truck is modified to pick up glass.

Committee member Daton Hess said the city would also like to pick up e-waste, which includes "anything with an electric cord," but right now the hold-up on that is that Kansas law requires people bringing in e-waste to sign a form. That requirement may go away at the end of the year, and if it does the city would start picking up e-waste with recycling.


Council wants input on fowl ordinance

On Tuesday night the Clay Center City Council discussed changing the city's fowl ordinance, which currently restricts fowl to be no closer than 150 feet of an adjoining home. There is no limit on the number of fowl people can have, councilman Justin Begnoche suggested that chickens and other such fowl be counted among the three cats, dogs or hoofed animals people are allowed to have on their property.

Mayor Sharon Brown said the issue was put on the agenda because of an "underground" chicken movement in Clay Center. Councilwoman McKenna Porter said she has heard people are getting "one or two" chickens as part of a "grow your own green movement." The idea is to produce your own fresh eggs, she said.

Brown suggested council members talk to constituents and residents bring feedback to the council before changing the ordinance.

The council also:

-- approved an ordinance allowing day cares to be in residential areas with up to 10 children without the operatot having their primary residence as the site of the day care,

-- approved an ordinance raising municipal court fees by $5 to $65 and an ordinance that established a fund for Crime Stoppers, for whom the extra $5 in court fees will be set aside for,

-- approved the drug dog agreement, which among other things calls for the city to pay for dog food in the event Science Diet doesn't and for the city to pay up to $2,000 a year for vet bills,

-- agreed to draft up an ordinance that will allow fireworks to shot a week before the Fourth of July between the hours of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. June 27 to July 2 and 8 a.m. to midnight on July 3 and 4,

-- proclaimed Nov. 15 as America Recycles Day,

-- approved an building permit for a garage at 309 S. 9th St., and

-- reviewed animal control ordinance changes and directed the city attorney to draft changes to the ordinance as presented by animal control officer Amy Taylor.