Times Observer photo by Josh Cotton The annual Christmas tree at the point in downtown Warren was placed Tuesday.

The city’s Street Landscape Commission always views a successful year as one where more trees were planted than removed.

This fall’s planting met that objective.

City Arborist Joe Reinke told the committee during a Tuesday meeting that a total of 84 were planted this fall. A total of 23 have been removed this year, he added, with five more removals planned by the end of the year.

With trees come leaves and the rate at which the leaves fell has presented challenges for the city in its efforts to pick them up.

Reinke said two or three crews can typically get through the city in two or three days to complete one pass. A typical year would include five to seven passes.

But this year’s leaves seem to have come down once.

“We just covered all of town last week. In basically seven days two trucks covered all of town,” he added, noting the amount collected is roughly two-thirds of a typical year.

He encouraged people to take advantage of this upcoming weekend’s weather to get out and rake as crews will try to cover the city one more time next week.

The downtown Christmas tree was put up Tuesday, as well.

Reinke said this year’s tree came from within the city limits.

DCNR District Forester Cecile Stelter said people should “pick Christmas trees that have good color.”

“Make sure you make that cut on the bottom so you have good uptake of water,” she said, in addition to watering the tree regularly.