Lebanon City to run new "green" total patcher for potholes; DPW outlines sign replacements and brush week schedule

Lebanon City’s Department of Public Works will deploy a newly acquired "total patcher" this spring and summer to repair potholes and other pavement distress, DPW street superintendent Alex Smith said on the Love and Lebanon podcast.

"It's called a total patcher," Smith said, describing the machine as a unit that applies a thin layer of binder and crushed stone, then rolls the surface; "after a couple weeks, you can't even really tell that it was it's there." The department expects to use the device frequently once asphalt plants reopen and weather permits.

The equipment is intended to supplement winter cold-patch work and reduce repeat repairs, Smith said. He described an operational sequence: crews apply the patching treatment, allow a short curing period, then run a street sweeper three to five days later to remove loose stone. The mayor approved purchase of the unit after a successful demonstration, Smith said.

Smith also explained how the city assesses pavement condition. "Our PASER score is essentially how our roads are graded," he said, describing the PASER scale from 1 to 10, with 10 indicating a brand-new repaved road. Lebanon contracted Avenue to score its roads in 2025 and is working with StreetIQ to build an online tracking system that records when repairs occurred, what treatments were used and the associated costs.

Beyond potholes, Smith outlined other DPW priorities for warmer weather. The paint crew will focus on parade routes, curb and stop-bar markings and school-zone crosswalks to bolster pedestrian safety. On signage, he said the department ordered roughly 110 new "Tiger" street-name signs from Stellar Products for 2026 and expects to phase those in over a year or two because the cost of sign posts makes full replacement a multi-year effort.

Brush week and leaf-collection schedules were also announced. Smith said the first brush week will run April 6–17 (the leaf machine will operate during that period). Subsequent pick-ups are scheduled May 11–15, June 8–12, July 6–10, August 3–7 and September 7–11. Crews will run routes in a four-day cycle with Friday available as a makeup day, and the city uses a fleet tracker so residents and staff can confirm whether a pile was missed.

Smith cautioned that route schedules sometimes conflict with trash pickup on narrow streets and that residents putting out materials outside posted periods can create additional work, but he stressed the fleet-tracker transparency and the department's intent to work missed piles back into the route.

The department plans to produce a short video demonstrating the total patcher’s work and will publish brush-week dates and the fleet-tracker link on the city website and social channels. "Thank you for having me," Smith said in closing; the podcast host thanked DPW crews for their winter work and closed the episode.

The schedule and operational details outlined on the podcast will guide the DPW's public messaging and summer work; city officials encouraged residents to consult the website for up-to-date maps and tracker links.