The problem of people dumping things they shouldn’t behind the Auburn Park continues, Mayor Dewey Roche told the city council at their meeting Monday evening.

“If you haven’t seen it, it’s unbelievable,” Roche said.

The area at the top of the hill behind the Babe Ruth baseball field is set aside for Auburn residents to dispose of small limbs, leaves and brush. Every so often, the debris is burned.

Roche explained that they started allowing residents to dispose of some yard waste there when they issued a burn ban in the city. It was a good idea, Roche said, but now it’s gotten out of hand.

“Now people are cleaning out fence rows and cutting down trees and if they have an old couch, they’ll dump it there too,” Roche said.

Council members agreed that it is a problem.

“We’re getting stuff from all over,” councilman Ron McGee said. “I don’t think we need to provide a place for everybody to dump stuff.”

Councilman Mike Hughes said sometimes there is so much stuff piled up at the bottom of the hill that you can’t see the sign telling residents to take debris to the top of the hill.

“We need to control this,” Hughes said.

Roche asked the council members to think about the problem and what can be done and they will discuss it more at next month’s meeting.

“We need to come up with something,” Roche said.

Also during the meeting, city clerk Becca LaGrone gave an update on the transition to new software for the city.

Roche said he knew the switch was hectic at first, but that it was going well now and is a good improvement and update.

LaGrone agreed.

“Used to we couldn’t tell how well we were doing on our budget,” she explained. “Now we’ll be able to monitor it constantly.”

“It’s just a matter of getting used to it,” she added.

Roche and the council thanked LaGrone and the other city workers who have been involved in the switch for their hard work.

In other news:

• The council accepted a bid of $17,000 from Scotty’s for street and sidewalk work.

• Roche told the council that Auburn Cleanup Days will be May 13-15, with a receptacle located at the Auburn Sewer Plant open from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. each day. No tires, brush, paint cans, batteries, construction debris, or hazardous material accepted. The Auburn city water bill or stub must be presented for admittance. No home pickup or curbside service will be available.

• Police Chief Scott Harmon reported the problem of stray dogs is getting worse. He said he’d like to look into getting a dog cage to use to haul dogs in the police cruiser and take them to the Humane Society. Kay Isenberg, who was at the meeting and is on the Humane Society board, said they would be glad to help if they could and might have a cage they could let the Auburn Police use.