FAIRMONT – Leaf pick-up is set to get underway in Fairmont on Monday, Oct. 27, and extend through Nov. 14.

Properties north of Blue Earth Avenue/Lake Avenue will have their leaves picked up from Oct. 27 to Oct. 31, properties south of Blue Earth Avenue/Lake Avenue and north of Lair Road/Cardinal Street will have theirs done from Nov. 3 to Nov. 7, and properties south of Lair Road/Cardinal Street will be picked up from Nov. 10 to Nov. 14.

Public Works Superintendent Nick Lardy said the schedule switches one section each year, and this year it aligned to where they are able to go from top to bottom through the city.

“Pile up your leaves on the boulevard, not in the street, preferably between the sidewalk and the curb,” Lardy said. “We start Monday morning. You’ve got to have your piles ready by that Sunday night. Then the city crews come around town. They broom the leaves into the street and pick them up with either the leaf vacuum or the loader with dump trucks.”

Preparing for this pickup project involves getting the equipment ready and clearing the park of leaves first and foremost.

Lardy said leaves should not be bagged, and they should be left in a pile.

“Preferably a long, narrow pile, if possible,” he said. “No debris of any kind in the pile, such as sticks, rocks, pet waste, we’ve had that, or any garden materials. Long, stringy vine type of material can get caught up in the fan of the leaf vacuum. Just leaves only.”

To complete this project, Lardy said it requires three crews and 15 people, including those who blow leaves into the leaf vacuum and truck drivers.

“It’s quite a task to keep everybody rolling, keep all the equipment rolling,” he said.

One thing that’s different this year is Frontier Communications is installing fiber cables in Fairmont. Lardy said people should take care not to pile leaves on or near their flags if one is on their boulevard.

Once the leaves are picked up, it starts a yearlong process that transforms them into compost.

“Pretty much all the leaves we take out to our compost area, out on West Lair Road, west of the county road 39, we stack them up there,” Lardy said. “We get some horse manure from a few places around, and we mix it in with the leaves to start the composting process. These’ll compost all next summer, and then fall, about this time, we will stack all that up. It’s all composted. Then we give that end product away.”

The leaves from last year have just now finished composting. Lardy said a farmer took some to spread on his fields, but the rest is provided for the citizens of Fairmont to take.

On top of compost for citizen use, Lardy said there are multiple benefits from this program for the citizens of Fairmont.

“It’s an easy way to get rid of their leaves from their yards,” he said. “It also cuts down on leaf burning in town. There’s a group of people that have sensitive breathing issues, and the burning can affect that.”

For more information, call city hall at 507-238-9461 or the public works department at 507-235-9330.