Residential Loose Leaf Pickup

Important Dates for 2024 Leaf Season

October 14, 2024
Begin taking individual pickup requests from citizens.

October 28, 2024 (Tentative)
Leaf Season zone pickup begins starting in Zone 1. Individual pickup requests discontinued on this date.

November 28 & 29, 2024
No leaf pickup due to Thanksgiving Holiday

December 24 & 25, 2024
No leaf pickup due to Christmas Holiday

December 26, 2024
Daily leaf pickup by zone officially ends

December 27, 2024
Leaf pickup resumes on a request basis. Leaf pickup will also be performed as needed to re-establish free drainage.

January 1, 2025
No leaf pickup due to New Year's Holiday

January 31, 2025
The last business day in January ends leaf season.

Operating Procedures

1. Beginning October 14, 2024, crews will respond to individual pickup requests once per week until Zone Pickup begins. Citizens may call Citizen Information and Assistance (270-393-3444) to request a leaf pickup. They must provide their name and the address for the desired pickup location.
2. The Operations Division will deploy 4 leaf pickup crews (4 employees per crew), each using hand tools, a truck and a leaf machine
3. Crews will pick up leaves from the edge of a city street which the residence faces. If a residence is on a corner of two streets, each street may not be in the same pickup zone.
4. The city is divided into 10 zones work zones. We schedule two days per zone for leaf pickup.
5. Crews will not begin leaf pickup in a zone before its scheduled pickup date.
6. Should we finish a zone in less than the scheduled two days, we will backtrack to unfinished zones, beginning at the oldest unfinished location and advance in sequence from that zone.
7. Should we not complete a zone in its scheduled two days, we will move on to the next scheduled zone to keep as close to the published schedule as possible. The intent of this procedure is so that citizens know when to have their leaves raked to the edge of the street, and to preclude deferring pickup of entire zones. We typically develop sufficient backtrack time to reach bypassed portions of zones within a very few days of their scheduled pickup.
8. Crews will not work overtime unless it is absolutely necessary.

Citizen Information & Guidelines

In an effort to keep the leaf crews on schedule and to prevent leaf machines from breaking down the following guidelines have been implemented:

1. The city is divided into ten (10) work zones. Crews are scheduled for two (2) consecutive business days in each zone and leaf pickup operations will not begin in a zone before its scheduled pickup dates.
2. To find what work zone you are in, visit the City's website at www.bgky.org/leafpickup and enter your street name. Please do not call the police department.
3. To find the 2024 Leaf Pickup Schedule, visit the Events Calendar on the City’s website at www.bgky.org/events. Please do not call the police department.
4. Leaves should be raked to the edge of the street BEFORE the first scheduled pickup day. If crews pick up leaves on your street on the first scheduled pickup day, they do not return on the second day.
5. Crews will pick up leaves from the edge of a city street which the residence faces. If a residence is on a corner of two streets, each street may not be in the same work zone. Crews do not go onto private property such as along driveways or behind houses to pick up leaves.
6. Leaves must not be placed on sidewalks, in the street or gutter lines, around fire hydrants, mailboxes, guywires or parked vehicles and must not obstruct drainage structures. The placement of leaves on sidewalks, in streets or gutter lines, around fire hydrants or in a manner to obstruct drainage structures violates City Ordinances and could result in civil fines. In addition, placing leaves on sidewalks, in streets or gutter lines, around fire hydrants, mailboxes, guywires or parked vehicles could cause accidents to vehicles or pedestrians resulting in personal liability.
7. Leaves will not be picked up from commercial properties, in private subdivisions, along private roadways in alleys or in mobile home parks.
8. Leaf piles must be free of any debris including tree limbs, rocks, household trash, discarded furniture, wheels/tires or any other debris that may cause damage to equipment or injury to crews.
9. If you miss your scheduled leaf pickup day, call Citizen Information and Assistance at 270-393-3444 to be placed on the ‘ALIBI LIST’. As time permits, we will take this list and backtrack to pick up your leaves. Please do not call the police department.
10. If we intentionally do not pick up your leaves, an ORANGE door hanger will be placed on the front door of the residence with an explanation and contact phone number.
11. In areas of on-street parking that parked vehicles interfere with leaf pickup operations, we may close those streets to parking to perform leaf pickup operations. We will give a 72 hour notice via local and social media and mark those streets with temporary NO PARKING signs. When parked vehicles interfere with leaf pickup operations, we will be forced to leave any inaccessible leaves in place. We will avoid towing parked vehicles whenever possible.
12. Should there be a measurable snowfall event during the leaf pickup schedule that would warrant snow removal from city streets, leaf pickup operations will be postponed. The same crews are used for both operations, Leaf Pickup and Snow & Ice Removal. Once the weather permits and the streets are clear of snow, crews will resume leaf pickup operations in the zone scheduled per the advertised leaf pickup schedule. Zones that were skipped for the snow event will be picked up as time permits.

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