On the Record: City Council Alderman Comment on Snow Removal Ideas

Our December snowfall equaled or surpassed  the annual average. The Public Works department worked 24 hours a day with 12 hours on and 12 hours off for many many days. I want to extend my gratitude to those hardworking crews and also thank the citizens for their patience as we continue to clear the streets and sidewalks from the storms.

A Magic Wand:

A snow emergency is declared prior to an event, which notifies residents that ALL non-emergency vehicles on streets will be ticketed, towed and fined. All City of Minot snow removal equipment with GPS can’t pass a snow emergency route twice until all city streets have been passed once. The city is broken into quadrants with neighborhood associations and leaders that coordinate localized efforts to clear sidewalks, driveways and assist the most disadvantaged residents. Minot Park District and Minot School District coordinate efforts to clear four-block radius of parking lots and sidewalks around schools/parks. Finally, all licensed contractors with heavy equipment emerge to aid the emergency routes (prior to aiding businesses) while residential neighborhoods/schools/parks are cleared.  A more detailed map is designed that is broadcast on a public service channel/Facebook Live and projected into the sky (think Batman) that allows residents to know progress!

All-clear is given, fireworks alert residents that the city has reopened and we party like it’s 1999!

The truth of the matter is to drastically reduce the amount of time to clear Minot’s city street in the event of a major snow event takes manpower and machines which come at a cost to taxpayers. If we choose to hire more street staff and purchase or lease more snow removal equipment that is permanent cost increases that all come back to the tax base.

Our current city street staff has done a very commendable job this year under extreme conditions. We as a city were able to clear a substantial amount of our 550 lane miles of city streets within 72 hours of the tail end of our third major snow event. Where we can likely see improvement is communication to residents about our snow removal plan, when our equipment will be in sections of the city and greatly increase our enforcement of ticketing and towing vehicles that violate our ordinances and inhibit our snow clearing capabilities.

We as residents also need to be more resilient in the face of events such as this. We saw some neighborhoods come together after the storm and snow low their streets to get to a snow emergency routes. I personally ran my own snowblower down my avenue around to another street that connected to a snow emergency route and we as a neighborhood were able to get out. The same idea translates to neighbor assistance whether is being shoveling or snow blowing an “at risk” neighbor’s sidewalk or driveway. It has been done and for some is being done. We just have to decide what kind of community we want to be. Are we one that is going to spend even more money on taxes to prepare for the big events like a blizzard.

When a medical issue or emergency comes up our plows do react and assist the emergency vehicles in getting to its destination or in cases such as the one that was brought to my attention where an individual who has type 1 diabetes was running low on insulin needed to get to the pharmacy. The street department was alerted and was dispatched quickly to clear the street for the individual so he could get his medication.

What we all need to understand is rare storms do happen and we have to have realistic expectations, patience and understanding. There is always room for improvement but we as a city living in the “Great White North” do have to be more resilient and keep realistic expectations at heart in the wake of a series of major storms.

Overall, I think our city staff has done a nice job with snow removal over the last 6 weeks of near record snowfall. Our Public Works department is not equipped nor staffed to handle a 20+ inch snow event, much less two of them in a matter of three weeks.

That being said we need to handle whatever Mother Nature gives us and have a plan in place. A thorough review of the snow removal plan should take place on a regular basis, especially coming off these multiple storms.

Some ideas to improve what we are doing could include the city developing some type of agreement with the Park District to utilize their services and equipment during a major snowfall (15+ inches). The Park District is a separate entity with their own facilities to clear but in emergency situations we should be able to work together.
I think the city should be more diligent about towing vehicles that are parked along streets for multiple days following a major snow event. These vehicles slow down our city operators a great deal.
It sounds as though there were a couple of areas that were overlooked immediately following the blizzards. This is bound to happen with outside contractors that aren’t familiar with the city. One remedy to this may be to have a website that was activated 36 hours after the storm where people could let public works know about the lack of snow removal on their street.

Again, overall things have gone well. There is always room for improvement but our city staff has worked extremely long hours moving snow since right after Thanksgiving. I’m happy to see the snowfall has slowed somewhat to give them a break.

1. Be more proactive: when a heavy snowfall is expected, immediately declare a snow emergency and restrict parking on snow routes.
2. Be much more aggressive in ticketing and towing parked vehicles that block snow routes.
3. Explore constructing a satellite Public Works facility, on the west side of town, so that sand trucks can refuel and refill more easily (without having to go back to the main Public Works garage).
4. Help establish a register of individuals/households with special needs (e.g., health problems, mobility limitations, etc.), so that established community service and volunteer organizations (e.g., churches, scouting and youth groups, etc.) can assist with helping them remove their snow (e.g., on sidewalks and driveways).
5. Add staff to the Public Works department. If you have 16 pieces of snow removal equipment, and only 15 people to operate them, you can see what the problem is (and this doesn’t include equipment breakdowns or people getting sick).
6. Improve information and communications (e.g., make it easier for citizens to find out where and when snow plows are scheduled to be going, not just where they’ve been). If you call Public Works after hours, and want to report a problem or ask a question, you are directed to the city website, but there’s no way to leave a phone message. Publicize the snow removal plan, so people have a better idea of what to expect in terms of priorities.
7. Be more realistic about expectations. Ten years ago, we had 300 lane miles of streets and 13 pieces of equipment (and had the goal of clearing the streets within 96 hours); now, we have 550 lane miles and 16 pieces of equipment (and hope to clear the streets within 72 to 96 hours). I’m not sure there’s a whole lot more we can do to be more efficient; additional resources and realistic expectations are likely to be more effective.