BREWER – Should the city continue collecting bulky waste items – like worn mattresses, broken furniture, old appliances and brush – at curbside each spring or is it time to do away with the service, which is becoming increasingly costly to provide? Could a scaled-back program work?

The city’s annual spring cleanup is an issue that affects virtually every Brewer household and city councilors were divided on how to address it when the topic was raised during their meeting Tuesday night.

Councilor Larry Doughty saw the cleanup as a crucial city service that must continue regardless of cost because residents depend on it. His Goupee Street neighbor, Councilor Manley DeBeck Jr., said it might be time to do away with curbside collection, given the city’s current budget constraints.

Councilor Gail Kelly wanted the city to at least pick up brush, while Deputy Mayor Donna Thornton saw spring cleanup as “an all or nothing” issue. Thornton said the city faces difficult budget decisions this year and may need to rethink spring cleanup. Mayor Michael Celli observed that public works employees have had to put off more important work because spring cleanup tied them up for as much as six weeks during Maine’s short construction season.

Because spring is coming and time is of the essence, councilors appointed a subcommittee to take a hard look at spring cleanup pros and cons. That group will consist of councilors Doughty and DeBeck, City Manager Stephen Bost, City Engineer Frank Higgins and Kenneth Locke, director of the city’s Environment and Public Works Department. Its mission is to come up with a recommendation for the full council to consider. A decision could be made as early as next month.

Some options being considered are limiting pickup to specific items, like brush, and having residents haul their own bulky waste items to the city landfill site.

As Bost sees it, the city’s public works employees, who are highly trained and have special skills, could be put to better use than picking up trash – at a cost last year of nearly $27,000 in labor alone.

“It would be like having me screw in light bulbs. I can do it, but it would be very expensive,” Bost said.

A project public works plans to tackle soon is construction of a cul-de-sac off Century Street that will open new land to development. The work, which would have cost $73,000 to contract out, will be done by existing staff at a savings of $50,000. Another is a storm water separation project between Floyd and Chapman streets expected to generate similar savings.

Many of the councilors and staff members who weighed in on the discussion Tuesday saw “nonresident abuse” – out-of-towners sneaking in to dump trash – as a major contributor to rising spring cleanup costs. Large volumes of bulky waste also take up valuable space in the city’s construction and demolition debris landfill, already 75 percent full.

Brewer is among a handful of Penobscot County municipalities that still provide curbside spring cleanup collection services. Old Town and Orono also provide the service, while Bangor has limited curbside collection to brush and white goods. Bangor residents haul other bulky waste items to the Public Works facility themselves.

To that end, Brewer is finding that its spring cleanup trash piles are growing as surrounding communities phase their programs out. Photographs taken during last year’s cleanup showed large mounds of unsightly trash lining streets throughout the city.

“Trash City is what we look like,” DeBeck said.

Police Chief Steve Barker said that his officers, following tips from Brewer residents, have issued summonses for littering and theft of services to nonresidents.

Doughty, who wanted spring cleanup to remain unchanged, warned of a public outcry if the service is discontinued. He saw illegal dumping in low-visibility sites like Green Point Road as another potential outcome.

Several councilors cited concerns Tuesday that discontinuing the program or scaling it back might create hardships for elderly and disabled residents. Department heads said those people could be accommodated by special arrangement.

Also Tuesday, councilors met in executive session to discuss a personnel matter but took no action afterward.