The Jamestown Public Works Committee approved holding a cleanup week from May 10 through May 14 on a split vote Thursday.
The vote came after a lengthy discussion debating whether to send city crews to pick up materials in Jamestown rather than extending the hours at the sanitation baler that would allow residents to bring materials there for disposal.
Holding cleanup week passed 3-2 with Councilmen Dan Buchanan and Brian Kamlitz dissenting.
Sanitation Foreman Shawn O'Neill told the committee that the department would need to hire six temporary workers and rent two loaders for the week.
A motion to delay making a decision until the City Council meeting on May 3 failed.
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Jay Sveum, Jamestown human resources supervisor, said that would not give him enough time to hire the extra staff and make arrangements for equipment.
The committee also discussed moving cleanup week to the fall, although no motion was made on that topic.
Jamestown Mayor Dwaine Heinrich said the city needed to better control the types of material collected during the cleanup week. Another topic of concern was scavengers sorting through material put out by others and leaving the materials a mess and difficult to load.
"We need to have more education on this," Heinrich said. "We have to be mindful of bad examples."
City cleanup week is a longstanding tradition in Jamestown although it was canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The city did allow residents to bring items to the city baler during extended hours last year.
The city will begin the hiring process for additional workers immediately, Sveum said.
