City Announces Snow Removal Guidelines

11-1-01

Seasonal changes often require us to review seasonal policies in the hope that we can refresh the memories of our citizens and also to refine our own methods of doing things.

Now that the 2001-2002 snow season is upon us, it is timely to review the City's policies in the areas of Snow Removal and Snow Emergencies.

What We Plan To Do. A Snow Emergency can be declared whenever the local forecast predicts at least a 3" snowfall or when 3" of snow have actually accumulated. A "Snow Emergency" is declared as a result of a joint consultation between the Police Chief and the Public Works Director.

Upon the declaration of a snow emergency, the Public Works Director will issue a statement to KMAQ and the Police Dept will activate the "emergency voice-over messaging system" on the local Cable TV System with the following messages:

First Announcement:

"The City of Maquoketa has declared a snow emergency until further notice.

All cars parked along City snow routes must be relocated immediately or face the possibility of being towed.

As more weather information becomes available, we will update this announcement concerning the clearing of public parking lots and downtown sidewalks.

Thank you."

Updated Announcement:

"This is an update to our snow emergency. The snow emergency will now last until ______ a.m./p.m. on _______________.

All cars parked along City snow routes and in public parking lots must be relocated immediately or face the possibility of being towed. All property owners in the Central Business District are reminded to shovel their sidewalks into the street by ____ a.m./p.m. on _______________.

Thank you."

During the snow emergency, the Police Dept can call upon the Public Works Dept to salt, sand, or plow specific areas that are in need of attention.

Otherwise, the Public Works Dept will work according to this list of priorities:

1.) The first priority is the snow routes and pushing snow to the curbs when possible.

2.) Early in the morning and prior to the opening of downtown stores, whatever crews and equipment are available will be sent to the Central Business District.

The City has the option to block-off Main Street from Maple to Quarry to all parking until the snow is pushed to the center of the street.

All property owners within the blocked-off area are required to push all snow from the sidewalks into the street no later than the given time by the Police Dept on the deadline date given in the "Snow Emergency Announcement." Anyone not hearing what the deadline date is may call the Police Dept (652-2468) for this information. If the snow has not been pushed into the street by the deadline, the City crews will do this, and the property owner will be billed.

During the time period when the Public Works Department is involved with working on Main Street, City crews will push snow to the middle of the street. Snow in the public parking lots will be pushed into piles in order to open up as many parking spaces as possible before the downtown stores open.

It is likely that the parking lots will be closed at times when work is being done. In some cases, the Police Dispatchers may call people who rent apartments downtown and use the public parking lots to ask them to move their vehicles. Landlords should provide the names, addresses, and phone numbers of their tenants ahead of time in order to assist our dispatchers in their efforts.

Unless there is a heavy amount of snow, it will be the City's goal to open-up parking downtown again by 9:00 a.m. on the day after the snowfall.

3.) During the day, the plows will return to the residential areas to continue plowing to the curb.

4.) By 9:00 p.m. after the snowfall subsides, clean-up operations will begin again in the Central Business District. If needed, the parking on downtown streets and/or in the public parking lots will again be closed at that time. Between approximately 10:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m., the remaining snow will be pushed to the middle of the street then loaded into trucks for removal. Depending on the amount of snow, it will be our goal to conclude our activities downtown by 2:00 a.m.

5.) City crews will next return to the residential areas and finish plowing snow to the curb and in intersections. They will also return to areas where two-way traffic may have narrowed to one-way traffic due to blowing snow.

6.) After the streets have been cleared, the next area of importance will be City alleys.

7.) After the streets and alleys have been cleared, the next job will be to remove snow that had been pushed into piles in the City parking lots.

8.) The next area of importance will be to remove snow from cul-de-sacs at the ends of City streets and in areas where snowplows were not able to push the snow to the curb.

9.) The next job will be to remove any piles of snow that have blocked the view of motorists at various intersections such as Main/Summit and Western/Summit.

10.) The next area of importance will be "City" sidewalks that abut city-owned property such as the City parks.

11.) The lowest level of priority will be given to the areas of the Pedestrian Trail that range over a width of 6 feet.

12.) The "Snow Emergency" will be lifted when this announcement is released to KMAQ and read over the local Cable TV System 22:

Announcement to Lift Snow Emergency:

"The City of Maquoketa has now lifted its Snow Emergency as of _____ a.m./p.m. today (or tonight.) Vehicles parked on non-snow route streets now have until _____ a.m./p.m. on _______________ to be relocated or face the possibility of being towed.

Residential and commercial property owners are reminded to shovel their sidewalks by ____________________. After that deadline, the Police Dept will begin enforcement of the sidewalk-shoveling ordinance.

Thank you."

As with all policies, we anticipate that these snow removal guidelines will need to be reviewed on an on-going basis to see if they are being executed effectively.