HomeMy WebLinkAboutA002 - Legal Opinion dated October 9, 1991 - leaf collection and disposal MEMORANDUM
TO: Paul Wiegand, Director of Public Works
FROM: John R. Klaus, City Attorney
DATE: October 9, 1991
RE: Leaf Collection and Disposal by Unlicensed Haulers
This is in response to the request for opinion implicit in your October 7th
letter to Mr. Dayton Heins of 407 Garden Road, Ames, Iowa.
Mr. Heins, in his letter to you, states his intention to collect leaves from
throughout the City. He indicates he has done this in previous years. He
then disposes of some of the leaves by using them as a "soil conditioner and
for weed control" on property located in the City. Leaves in excess of what
he can use in that manner are then disposed of on farmland in the vicinity of
Huxley and Cambridge.
Persons who allow their leaves to be collected by Mr. Heins will be in viola-
tion of Section 10.8 of the Ames Municipal Code, unless Mr. Heins becomes a
"licensed collection agency" within the meaning of that section.
It will also be a violation of Section 10.21 of the Ames Municipal Code for
Mr. Heins to collect leaves for purposes of disposing of the same in any
place other than the established official disposal facilities of the City of
Ames. The fact that there is some benefit derived from the disposal process,
that is the asserted soil conditioning and weed control , is immaterial under
the City's regulations for yard waste disposal .
Do you or Bob intend to reply to Mr. Heins or would you prefer that I do so?
JRK:gmw
cc: Bob Kindred