Currently, residents are required to have a sticker and a scheduled time for pickup of unwanted trash, unless they put the items on the street on Mondays. Properties found to have furniture without stickers put on the street are given three day notices to remove the items, and are fined after that period.

Especially during the month of August, when many leases on apartments and rental homes within city limits expire, Sneathen said finding unmarked and unclaimed furniture throughout the week is a commonality for both public works employees and P.A.C.E. officers patrolling neighborhoods.

Although the illegal dumping causes inconvenience, Sneathen said the major concern is the increase in couch fires happening throughout the city, which could pose severe safety risks to community members.

“We just continue to see more and more couch chair fires,” Sneathen said. “It definitely doesn’t help when you have them on curbside, sitting out for periods of time.”

Sneathen suggested the council make the time frame on dumping violation notices shorter so as to decrease the problems leaving it on the street causes.

One issue with enforcing any furniture dumping rules is figuring out the perpetrator of who left the items, Assistant City Attorney Tom Yeadon said. Because it’s not always clear who left the furniture out, or if the furniture belongs to the landlord or tenant on the properties in question, officials are often left with the question of who to charge for the offense.

“Most of the issue is we just never find out who put them there, and secondly, we don’t necessarily know that they’re putting them out in front of their own property,” Yeadon said.

Councilmember Kevin Beard suggested implementing a program similar to city programs held at the beginning and ending of each school year during August, while East Lansing Mayor Vic Loomis made the suggestion to look into selling stickers in campus buildings such as the International Center or the Union so they were more easily accessible to the student population.

The behavior often is so widespread among tenants because many of them are able to get away with it without a fine or any stiff consequences under the current situation, Councilmember Nathan Triplett said.

“It starts with one (household), and then it spreads,” Triplett said. “The faster you resolve that situation, the quicker we’ll resolve that behavior.”

Triplett said it was important for council to consider the fact that the issue is not limited only to a few weeks in the late summer, but is a recurring problem that needs to be managed effectively throughout the year.

City officials and council members plan to continue discussing the situation to search for a viable solution in the coming weeks.

The council also discussed the prospect of choosing an executive firm through which to conduct a nationwide city manager search to replace the current city manager, Ted Staton. Staton will be leaving his position to work as the city manager of Upper Arlington, Ohio, in early October.

Councilmembers Beard and Roger Peters will begin the process of interviewing firms with which to work with by phone during the week, and council hopes to have finalists make presentations at either its Sept. 20 meeting or Sept. 27 work session.