News you can use
News you can use
A pile of branches lays slightly on the street Wednesday at Third Avenue and Seventh Street. The city has advised property owners that if they do not dispose of branches and brush themselves, the branches and brush must be cut into 4-foot lengths and bundled for disposal or the property owners will be charged for the city picking them up.
The Havre government is advising people that it will not be able to take care of cut tree limbs and brush this summer as it continues to deal with the aftereffects of a storm from nearly a year ago.
That means if tree limbs and brush are not disposed of or properly prepared for disposal, property owners could face fees or fines.
Havre Public Works Director Dave Peterson said the department is still working on repairing damage to trees on boulevards and in city parks from the storm Oct. 2-3.
That record-setting storm dropped more than a foot of wet, heavy snow on trees that still had substantial foliage and were not yet set for winter, breaking branches and knocking them onto the ground throughout the region, as well as knocking out power from Chester to Malta for as long as a week for some customers.
Peterson said that because of the ongoing work dealing with that damage, the city will not be able to get out with its brush chipper it usually deploys in the summer.
Property owners who want to have tree branch removal must follow city code, Havre City Ordinance 8-3-6 (E), which states that all branches and shrubbery must be cut in 4-foot lengths and bundled for disposal. The bundles should be placed near trash cans for disposal but not block access to driveways or garage doors.
The Tri-County Landfill east of Havre also has an area set aside for branch disposal, a release from Public Works said.
If people do not properly bundle branches and brush, the city will dispose of them, but the property owner will be charged.
The Public Works release cites Ordinance 8-3-6 (E), saying a violation "shall be deemed a misdemeanor and a fine in an amount not exceeding three hundred dollars ($300.00) for each day such violation is committed or permitted to continue."
Reader Comments(1)
brenda evans writes:
We did dispose of ours, but neighbors place theirs between the trash bins (they have been their for 2-3 weeks) weeds are growing all around. We had to cut them up and put in trash bins ourselves just so we could weed whip around the area so we don't get fined!!! grrrrrrr How would the city know who to fine? we have people that live all around us and use those bins but didn't bundle the branches!!!!
07/12/2018, 1:11 pm