Vicksburg public works crews will be out Tuesday through Saturday removing limbs and branches left on city streets.

North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield, who is over public works, said he asked Public Works Director Garnet Van Norman to assemble two crews to remove the piles of limbs and branches gathering along city streets.

“Hopefully, if we can’t get it between now and this weekend we’ll be able to finish it up next week going into next weekend,” Mayfield said Monday. “We have debris that has been out there for several weeks and residents are rightfully getting upset about it.”

The move follows comments by Mayor George Flaggs Jr. about the city’s problems with trash cluttering the curbs of city streets at the start of Monday’s meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

“I don’t know what’s happened, but I continue to see a lot of limbs on the streets of Vicksburg,” Flaggs said. “I don’t know what’s going on but I can tell you the limbs on the street are brown and the grass is growing through them. That tells me they’ve been there a while.

“I’m in favor of working on Saturdays; I don’t have a problem paying overtime,” he said.

Limbs and branches along the city streets have been a problem since the ice storm that hit the area in mid-February took down limbs and branches in yards across the city.

The board in March approved a contract not to exceed $18,250 with Shackleford Management Services Inc. of Yazoo City to remove the ice storm debris in the city but more yard debris has appeared since Shackleford left.

Mayfield said two city crews — one in the North Ward and one in the South Ward — will begin collecting debris Tuesday.

“It’s better than it was but there’s still debris out there and it shouldn’t be there,” he said. “We still have a lot of it out there. We plan to make a real good stab at it starting tomorrow.”