LEWISTON – The city will collect bulky trash, metal and old appliances curbside again this spring, councilors said Tuesday.

Councilors voted down a measure to scale back spring cleanup collections in the next couple of weeks, collecting only brush, limbs and twigs left behind by the winter. When that proposal failed, councilors moved on to the next item on their agenda.

City Administrator Jim Bennett said the cleanup was funded in the budget, but the city didn’t have a program in place to collect waste. But councilors, questioned after the meeting, said they understood that regular collections would go on as planned.

“People should prepare to have their stuff collected in two weeks, just like always,” Councilor Bob Reed said.

Councilors didn’t reach agreement on the collections for the following year, although sentiment on the council is heavily against it.

Councilor Denis Theriault said having city crews collect curbside garbage is a waste of resources. City crews would be better used repairing potholes and sweeping sand off streets.

“Last year, we lost eight to nine weeks picking up trash,” Theriault said. “That was time we could have been fixing roads. And then, we lost another month of road repairs because of rain. I say we can do better things with our resources.”

Crews collected a record-setting amount of trash last year – 954 tons of scrap metal, wood, brush, old furniture, appliances and other household waste. That nearly doubled collections from 2008.

Those collections cost the city $158,000. Bennett said that part of that was simply staff time. The city will pay that money for Public Works crews and equipment whether they are fixing roads or collecting trash. But about $51,000 is directly associated with the spring cleanup, for renting special equipment and paying tipping fees for some of the waste.

Mayor Larry Gilbert said he objects to the way the collections make the city look, with piles of trash left curbside for weeks.

“We may be an award-winning All-America City, but we don’t look like it with trash piled high,” Gilbert said. “We wind up looking like a slum for nine weeks.”

Councilors said they had received phone calls and e-mails from people about the collections, and about half supported keeping the collections. A handful of people attended Tuesday’s meeting to plead for collections to continue.

“I think I have one more year of collections, and then I’ll be fine,” said Michael C. Ouelette. “All I’m asking for is one more year.”