As fall continues its march toward winter, more and more leaves have let go of their trees and found themselves on the ground.

And, a lot of those have ended up in big piles on many of Morristown's roads.

With a street sweeper picking up all those leaves and any other road debris, the need to worry about it pretty much ends as soon as you're done raking, right?

At least one resident and councilwoman, however, had questions at Tuesday night's Town Council meeting regarding when the sweeper gets to different parts of town, and whether there is a better way to let resident's know when they need to move their cars so he can do his job.

Helen Arnold, of Cottage Place in the Second Ward, noted roads were "filthy" and that something needed to be done about it.

"In Ward 2, most people park on the street," said Second Ward Councilwoman Raline Smith-Reid. "If there was a schedule, they would move their cars."

Mayor Tim Dougherty, who lives over in the Fourth Ward on Wetmore Avenue, noted "my street has the same issue" with residents not knowing when the street sweeper will be coming through.

Public Works Director Jeff Hartke said there presently is only one street sweeper for the entire town, as a second had left and was not replaced.

The central business district is swept starting at 3 a.m. on a two-day rotation, while residential areas are swept on a 10-day rotation starting at 7 a.m.

"If the sweeper is sick or out, we don't have someone to replace him," Hartke said. He told the council the problem with establishing a schedule would be, if there is no personell to sweep but there are specific times sweeping is set to occur at specific locations, some may not get their roads swept through the current rotation, meaning 10-day rotations could turn into 20.

The trade-off for not having a specific schedule is roads are not bypassed, Hartke said.

Under the current system, streets are getting swept between two-to-three times a month; stormwater management laws mandate streets be swept at least once a month. "I'm happy we're doing it at least three times a month," Dougherty said. "If we need to improve, we'll work on it."

Smith-Reid said a better job could be done as far as inspecting roads prior to their expected sweepings and post "no parking" signs so the roads can get cleaned in a timely manner.

Or, "you can hire another street sweeper," Arnold said.