02-25-2026 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Staff Report To: Mayor Fischer and Members of the City Council From: Laura Linehan, Assistant City Administrator Date: February 25, 2026 Re: Litter Reduction Initiative Action To Be Considered: No formal action but seeking Council feedback. The purpose of the staff report is to provide the City Council with an overview of the city’s proposed city-wide litter reduction initiative. Background: As outlined in the recent Quarter 1 2026 Strategic Plan Update, staff is working on several strategic initiatives in 2026. Within the Delivering Dynamic Community Spaces Initiative, a specific action item of developing a litter reduction initiative was identified. Litter Reduction Initiative Overview: The proposed litter reduction initiative is scheduled to be formally launched during National Volunteer Week, which will be held from April 19-25 this year. Staff is proposing a multi-faceted initiative that will hopefully encourage participation not only from invested residents, but also from members of our business community, nonprofit community, and commissioners/staff. Adopt-a-Facility Expansion At the March 13, 2024, City Council meeting, the council learned about the city’s new adopt-a- facility program, which we continue to advertise today. This program is GIS based and currently consists of park/trail, hydrant, and catch basin adoption. As part of our new litter reduction campaign, staff will work with Bolten and Menk’s GIS Team to build “Litter Routes” for adoption. This will allow businesses, residents, and community organizations to “adopt” a stretch of roadway they will be responsible for maintaining. Those who adopt would be asked to do a litter pick up as frequently as possible, with three times advertised as most critical: • March/April (after snow thaw) • The week before the annual Canadian Days Celebration • September/early October (before snow flies) As with current litter reduction operations, the city will provide litter pickers, high-vis vests, and trash bags to volunteers. Additionally, volunteers can leave trash bags for staff to pick up as part of their litter reduction efforts. National Volunteer Week As has historically been done, staff is developing several cleanup events for National Volunteer Week. While the staff has historically focused those efforts on park property, we will expand cleanups to major areas in our community. Staff have had two businesses/organizations already reach out about opportunities during National Volunteer Week and will use our new business