17-05-2025
Potsdam DPW asks residents to not put out entire trees for collection
May 15—POTSDAM — The village Department of Public Works is requesting that residents place only standard-sized piles of sticks, leaves and other yard waste at the curb for the annual brush pickup — not entire trees.
At the April 28 village board meeting, DPW Superintendent Gregory R. Thompson said that in some cases, property owners have placed full-sized trees by the roadside, expecting that DPW crews would remove them.
However, the crews are not equipped to handle such large debris as part of the regular pickup.
"We started brush and garden waste pickup, with the intention of continuing this process through the month of May," Thompson told the Board of Trustees. "You know, we don't want any hard feelings, but we want all the land owners to realize that if they have someone come in and cut a tree down for them or several trees down for them in their yard, it's actually their responsibility to remove the tree."
"Please don't bring it out and put it on the roadside and expect DPW to remove an entire tree or several trees," Thompson said.
"The village is a good size and it takes us a month to get through it at least two times," he added. "So we really don't have time for those large projects. So we would ask everybody to keep their brush down to small diameter limbs, leaves, things of that nature, and this will go very well for all of us again."
Thompson confirmed that brush collection will continue throughout May.
