By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- The head of the Highway Department wants the Town Council to look at a modification to next year's spring cleanup program.

Highway Superintendent Frank Diagostino told the Town Council on Wednesday that he thinks they should look at a coupon system as a way to save money.

"I'd really like to see us go to a coupon type system where each resident gets two to three coupons," he told the board. "We get a different rate, a cheaper rate [for spring cleanup disposal] ... how do you separate the streams so you don't get charged the normal rate?"

"I think we'll really look at that at budget time," Town Supervisor Steve O'Shaughnessy said.

Diagostino said he also wants to see them do more to keep garbage out of spring cleanup.

"[Refuse] comes in somebody's backyard for a year, it's sopping wet, with everything from coats, clothes, wood, bags of garbage. We're seeing bags of garbage and that's not what it's for," he said.

Under his proposal, Massena residents in the town outside the village would still bring their waste to the transfer station on designated dates for free disposal.

He said they average 230 to 250 loads per year for about 2,000 people.

"Some of that is repeaters ... they may show up with seven loads because they own apartments," he said. "You'll get the person that lives in a house and they bring one load and he's done."

This year's spring cleanup dates for the town are May 10 and 11 from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and May 12 from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m.