The topic of open burning sparked a debate within the Perry City Council Monday.

Throughout the last few years, the City has decreased the window when open burning of tree debris is allowed. As the Council prepared to discuss if and when to set a three-week window this fall, Councilmember Dean Berkland pleaded to ban open burning in the name of safety, “I think we need to take care of the health of the people of this town. Mulch it, put in a bag, if you mulch it and throw it in a bag, you can fit 10,000 leaves in one bag. So I think it’s time that we take this step. A lot of the big cities won’t allow open burning, and I think we need to stop completely.”

Berkland and Councilmember Vicki Klein voiced that the City’s yard waste pickup service should be sufficient enough to handle each resident’s needs. Councilmember Chuck Schott responded in support of giving residents as many options as possible for residents to dispose of yard waste, “Everybody has correct points, there’s no doubt about that, but there’s also a lot of senior citizens who can’t even do it. They can’t burn it, they can’t rake it, and they can’t bag it, and if you hire somebody to come in and bag it’s going to cost you a little bit of money, and some of our citizens can’t afford that either.”

Following discussion, the Council passed a resolution 3-2 allowing open burning from 10 a.m. until sunset from November 2nd-22nd.