Port Clinton will check IDs at cleanup event

PORT CLINTON — Anyone wanting to drop off items as the city’s fall cleanup day in October will need to prove they live in Port Clinton.

The free disposal service, scheduled for 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 17 at the high grounds of Water Works, allows residents to dispose of items trash companies won’t accept.

“We’re doing this because they stopped unlimited pickup,” Safety Service Director Tracy Colston said. “This way (citizens) don’t have to pay that extra fee to get it picked up from their curbs.”

Colston described it as a great way to clean out your property, including anything from leftover brush to old unwanted furniture. The city will only be taking legal items, which essentially means no hazardous materials, appliances or tires.

A photo ID and local water bill from the city will be required for each individual. Police will be on site to enforce these new standards.

“It is for Port Clinton residents only,” Colston said. “Last time we had a big problem with people bringing stuff from out of town, people coming over the bridge, over the Fulton Street hill.”

Prior to the city-only restriction, there was far too much overflow at the Dumpsters, he said. Then, because it had gotten so late, the Dumpsters were left at the site over the weekend leading to more dropoffs past the deadline even though they were already full.

The new rules are expected to eliminate backup problems of that sort.

Colston also noted it is the city that has the contract with Republic Services and it is the local taxpayers’ dollars that go toward that contract.

He credited Mayor Vince Leone for having negotiated this sort of free cleanup event twice a year into the contract as a way to compensate for the lack of unlimited pickup.

Those that plan to drop off items will have to enter the high grounds at Water Works Park from the Jefferson Street pier.

It can be a “quick and easy” process, Colston said, as the city will have both workers and volunteers at the site helping to unload what is dropped off.

“I think it’s a great thing,” Colston said. “We try to get whatever we can.”

jstinchcom@gannett.com

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