City manager wants Cedar Rapids to resume spring bulky item cleanup

City Manager Jeff Pomeranz told the City Council at Tuesday evening's budget session that he wants the city to bring back its spring cleanup program that would pick up bulky items like sofas at the curb for free.

Pomeranz was short on details, other than to say it would be a “targeted” program.

But he told the City Council that such programs - which the city had in place several years ago and then abandoned - are “a great help” to cleaning up a community. Other cities have the program in place, he said.

City Council member Monica Vernon on Wednesday said she thinks it makes sense to bring the spring cleanup back, and she said constituents call her and ask for the city to reinstitute the program.

She said she thought Pomeranz, who was hired in June and began work in September after 12 years as city manager in West Des Moines, noticed when he first came to Cedar Rapids that its neighborhoods weren't as tidy as they could be.

Mark Jones, the city's solid waste/recycling manager, on Wednesday said the particulars of any discussion about spring cleanup have yet to be worked out.

He said the city has identified about $100,000 in the budget for the budget year beginning July 1, so he said he didn't know if the return of any spring cleanup would come in 2012 rather than 2011 if it comes.

Such cleanup efforts, he noted, have logistical issues. One now is that the Site 1 landfill near the center of the city, known as Mount Trashmore, is slated to re-close on April 1. This means items would need to be hauled to the Site 2 landfill north of Marion.

Jones said the last city cleanup cost about $220,000.

Residents can now call the city and have a sofa or other bulky item picked up. A typical sofa costs $5, he said.