Employees of Oregon’s Public Works Department will begin sucking up leaves next week for city residents despite Mother Nature’s delay in cooperating.

Bill Covell, director of public works, told commissioners Tuesday night, Oct. 28, that his department will start collecting leaves next week with a rental machine.

“We are going to get what we can since a lot of the leaves haven’t dropped yet,” Covell said. “The leaves can be right up to the curb on the street.”

The city council agreed in February to purchase a leaf vacuum two months after renting a leaf vac and offering the curbside service in December 2024 as a trial run.

The city’s new $130,000 machine is currently in production, Covell said, prompting the need for the rental.

“Next year will be a lot easier when we have our own machine,” he said.

Residents will have to rake leaves to the curb for collection and make sure there are no sticks or other debris in the piles.

“Please make sure there are no sticks mixed in,” Covell said.

He also asked residents to not place leaves behind obstacles like cars, trees, or bushes.

Leaf collection is scheduled to begin Nov. 3 and run through Nov. 17. A second collection is scheduled for Dec. 1-15.

Covell said he would attempt to try to extend the collection periods, but was doubtful an extension could be achieved in November due to the machine’s popularity.

“This thing is booked up for the year,” he said.

Collections will run from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., weather permitting. Collection quadrants are divided into four areas, separated by Route 64 and Route 2, with each quadrant being collected on a specific day of the week.

A map of the collection quadrants can be viewed on the city’s website, cityoforegon.org.

Earlier this year, Covell said the vacuum machine should lessen wear on the city’s $250,000 street sweeper that is currently used to sweep leaves from the street in an attempt to stop stormwater catch basins from clogging.

He estimated the life of the machine at 20 years.

The trial run for the vacuum last year was met with positive reviews, City Manager Darin DeHaan said.

The collected, mulched leaves will be taken to a nearby farm, DeHaan said.

Oregon is a designated as a Tree City USA and has a substantial number of mature trees. Residents currently bag leaves and place them in compostable bags or reusable cans marked with ‘X’ along the curb where they are then picked up.

Mt. Morris and Forreston already use a vacuum device to collect fallen leaves within their city limits.