Leave the leaves to the village


MILLERTON — Those who live and work in the village may have noticed a dump truck driving around that resembles an elephant. It has a long nozzle in front that could easily be mistaken for that great animal’s trunk. It’s obviously not an elephant. What it is, however, is a truck that vacuums up fallen leaves, leaving the streets free from the autumn debris.

According to Mayor John Scutieri, this year the leaf truck will operate until Dec. 1. It usually runs only until Thanksgiving.

"This year is a little different, as the leaves seem to be coming out a little later. If it comes to be that the trees seem pretty bare, we’ll bring it to a halt," he said. "If we have a big storm that brings all of the leaves down, those trucks are also plow trucks and there’s the fear of them getting caught in a storm, we will convert the truck back to being a plow truck and pick up the remainder of the leaves another way. They will just have to be put into recyclable paper bags for us to pick up."

Scutieri said the way people can help out is simple.

"All they have to do is rake them and put the on the side of the road, hopefully with as few branches or twigs as possible," he said, adding that the twigs and branches clog up the leaf vacuum.

The village started its service to collect the fallen leaves on Oct. 16. It will continue until Dec. 1, unless otherwise announced.

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