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TRUMAN-- The Truman City Council on Tuesday spent a good amount of time talking about its new snow removal policy and sidewalk ordinance, which was adopted earlier this year. After the recent first snowfall of the season, some hiccups were discovered.
"I thought we had a plan figured out. It wasn't followed by anyone and now we have a huge bill and we have to come up with how we're going to pay for it," said Mayor Jake Ebert.
At the Aug. 10 city council meeting, the council first began looking at making some changes to the snow removal policy. As per city ordinance, ice and snow is required to be removed from the sidewalks within 24 hours of a snowfall. However at that meeting the council talked about a plan for enforcement, which would be focused on sidewalks that extend the length of the block.
After that meeting the city advertised bids for snow removal for the 2023-24 season with the understanding that the charge would be per job and property owners would be billed for the $49.50 cost.
Later in October, the council approved of the ordinance, which requires residents to remove snow from public sidewalks within 24 hours and that the street department would monitor and report sidewalks in violation and office staff would notify the contractor to do the work.
Ebert said in past years the problems have been five to 10 households but this past snowfall 55 households were in violation of the snow removal policy and charged but that they did not go through city hall first and thus an important step was missed.
"Now we have a problem. We have a bill for $2,000," Ebert said.
Another issue with the policy that the council discussed was the timeframe. It was suggested that giving residents a 48 hour notice, rather than 24, would be easier to comply with.
Ebert reiterated that over the past decade there have only typically been a handful of properties that were an issue and noted that some sidewalks that were recently cleared were ones that never get used.
"We went from one end of the spectrum to the other. It got carried away. This is not what it was intended to do," Ebert said of the ordinance.
Council Member Patty Truax said that last year the council started receiving more complaints about sidewalks not being cleared and she believed it was because, during and post-Covid, more people have been out walking in the winter months.
"That's probably why it became an issue. Nobody was walking outside in the winter and now more and more people are doing it so it was brought to our attention. Maybe we did go a little over... but it's still opening their eyes," Truax said.
Council Member Ron Kelley said he had taken photos of un-shoveled sidewalks with footprints on them which shows they are getting used.
Street Superintendent John Bosshart questioned how the street department knows which sidewalks get used and which ones don't.
"If I would have turned in a list, it still would have been this high," Bosshart said.
Ebert said he didn't believe the ordinance was followed correctly and said he didn't know how the $2,000 bill would get paid to the contractor.
"I whole-heartedly believe we should continue with this, but we need to adjust some things," Ebert said.
The council talked about amending the ordinance so that residents have 48 hours to shovel their sidewalks, rather than 24, and ultimately approved a motion to introduce the ordinance amendment at the next council meeting.
Then the council discussed the matter of how to pay the $2,000 bill from the contractor and whether it wanted to send out fines to each of the residents in violation. The council tabled the matter.
Moving to other business, the council briefly discussed news from city engineer Bolton and Menk regarding Highway 15 sidewalk improvements the city is pursuing. The current cost estimate of 1,700 linear feet of sidewalk is $477,000, which includes engineering and a 15 percent contingency. However, with an LPP (Local Partnership Program) grant through the Minnesota Department of Transportation, the local cost to the city could be $50,000- $75,000 if received.
"That's significant," Truax said of the grant.
City Clerk Melissa Sirovy said that they are waiting to see if the city qualifies for the grant and that it should be decided some time in February.