ABOVE: Fairmont Public Works Superintendent Nick Lardy stands with a large tree stump, as an expansive pile of sticks and tree limbs looms behind him at the city’s yard waste recycling site.

FAIRMONT – With the full force of winter still on the horizon, the Fairmont Parks Department is hard at work getting everything winterized and people’s leaves and trees taken care of.

Right now, Fairmont Superintendent of Public Works, Nick Lardy, said they are 90 percent finished.

“Each park’s a little different, of course,” he said. “The biggest thing is, most of the buildings in the parks are not insulated, so we’ve got to cut the water and drain all the piping, make sure we get all the water out of everything so it doesn’t freeze. Anything other than that, it’s cleaning up, picking up picnic tables and garbage cans and bringing that stuff in.”

All of that across 40+ parks and other grounds maintained by public works is mainly complete.

Thankfully, Lardy said they got water to all the park buildings shut off and removed before any major freeze events could come through.

“Usually a small freeze, getting down to 26 for the night, as long as it’s not a consistent freeze, we’re all right,” he said.

Due to some new changes in training, Lardy said they were able to ensure everything was pretty cut and dry with no issues.

“Last couple years we’ve been trying to train more of the Park Department guys to know what goes in with each plumbing situation with each building,” he said. “Get a little more cross-training in.”

On the leaf program that recently finished up, Lardy said it went well, but circumstances could have been better.

“There was still quite a few leaves up in the tree,” he said. “They didn’t fall like typical. We didn’t get a good killing frost as early as we would have liked. We went through, got what we could. There are still some leaves up in the trees yet.”

At this juncture, Lardy said residents will be responsible for picking up their own leaves and disposing of them at the yard waste recycling site at 1880 100th Street. One can only bring yard waste material or trees from properties where they pay local utility bills.

This is not a wholly unexpected outcome, as Lardy said part of the reason they rotate who goes first each year is so leaf pickup is more even for everybody.

In a tweak from previous years, Lardy said they mainly ran their loaders and tubs to haul leaves out, and moved away from using the leaf vacuum frequently. He said there were multiple reasons for making this adjustment.

“Speed is pretty much the biggest thing,” Lardy said. “The leaf vacuum creates a lot of dust, which can cause some issues with employees. It’s a dusty, dirty machine, and with the lighter amount of leaves this year, it worked out good to use the loader and the tub.”

The composting of last year’s leaves also fared well, and there is still a small amount of compost left at the yard waste site for those interested.

As for tree removal and dumping, which is also done at 1880 100th Street, Lardy said now, as it has been in past years with Emerald Ash Borer, the site is pretty full.

“I just spoke with our contractor that’s going to come in and do some grinding,” Lardy said. “He should be in, hopefully first part of December to get some grinding going. The tree area does actually close on December 1, so that’s important to remember. He’s going to come in and do some grinding, and they’ll start hauling them ground-up wood chips out of there as soon as possible.”

While the grinding won’t take place until after the yard waste site closes, Lardy said there is still enough room for anyone who is eligible to bring their trees in.

Those ineligible include individuals who do not reside in town and those bringing yard waste or trees from a property outside of Fairmont, despite claiming they can do so because they also have a property in Fairmont where they pay utility bills.

“We get people that live in town and have a farm place [outside of town],” Lardy said. “They say, ‘Well, I pay the fee,’ but they haul the stuff in from their farm place, which is illegal.”

At this point, the best thing Lardy said can be done is for Fairmont citizens who use the yard waste site to keep an eye out for people possibly using it illegally, like if they see someone they know is from a different town.

“Then they should give the police a call,” Lardy said.

In addition to that, Lardy said the best way people can help overall is to clean up their properties so they don’t have leaves blowing everywhere and going into the storm sewers. When snow does come, Lardy said people should take care to shovel out fire hydrants as well to make sure they’re accessible when needed.