If the street department piles snow in the middle of the road this winter for removal, don’t drive through it or you could be fined.
And if you’re shoveling your sidewalk, drive or parking lot, don’t put the snow in the street or you could face another fine.
The City of Warsaw Common Council Monday night approved two ordinances on first reading regarding snow removal. The council will need to approve them on second reading at their next meeting before they go into effect.
“These next two ordinances are at the request of the street department. (Public Works Superintendent) Jeff (Beeler) just had some problems as he was trying to get his work done downtown, and we had big snow storms, and he feels like these ordinances should be considered tonight,” Mayor Joe Thallemer told the council.
Ordinance 2015-11-04 states that “It shall be unlawful for any person to drive any vehicle through snow that has been placed upon the street for removal by the department of public works.” Any person violating the ordinance shall be fined for not less than $50 but not more than $100.
Beeler said last winter his department spent a lot of time getting snow to the middle of the roads so they could then pick it up.
“People tend to joyride through the center of our piles then spread it back out across the road,” Beeler said. “The police department, in talking with them, really needed something else to help them be able to enforce that, so they can go after those people that are doing that, so this was brought up to be able to help the police department be able to enforce them from destroying all of our work.”
Lt. Kip Shuter, Warsaw Police Dept., said it’s also a public safety issue with drivers going through the piles and forcing that snow out again, which may contain ice.
Ordinance 2015-11-03 states it “shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to place or permit snow removed from any sidewalk, driveway or parking lot to be placed, shoveled, plowed or discharged upon any street in the city, unless authorized in advance by the public works superintendent of the city.” Any person violating the ordinance shall be fined for not less than $50 but not more than $500.
“Didn’t you say, Jeff, that this is mostly businesses that are contracting and then the contractors are shoving it?” Councilman Jeff Grose asked Beeler.
Beeler said his crews will try to work from North to South or East to West downtown, and will have the whole section cleaned up before applying anti-icing chemicals. But then a company will come in and clean up someone’s parking lot, but instead of hauling the snow away will put the snow right in the middle of the street.
“That’s a huge safety hazard, for one, because all of a sudden a car is driving down a clean street and come to a pile of snow in the middle of it,” Beeler said. “Secondly, I then have to remove all my forces from where we’re at and go back to clean that pile up and then get back to the other side of town again.”
Councilwoman Cindy Dobbins said as an individual business owner, there’s not really many places to shovel the snow from downtown sidewalks with all the landscaping there so sometimes it does get shoveled to the street.
Beeler said if “you’re authorized by the public works superintendent of the city, we can work through that stuff, and your sidewalks downtown are an example of that. And really the amount of snow from the sidewalk, generally, is not that big of a deal.”
He said they’ve been working with businesses to tell them about what time the streets will be plowed, and the business owners try to get their contractors on the job and done before the city’s plows come through.
Beeler said the biggest issue is the contractors cleaning parking lots out and having piles “the size of dump trucks.” Or, in housing additions, the street department will clean out the cul de sacs and someone will come in and shovel everyone’s driveways right to the middle, preventing school buses from getting around.
Elaine Call, councilwoman, said she hoped there would be some kind of leniency the first time around.
“I will not be a snow Nazi,” Beeler responded.
In other business, the council approved:
• A resolution for possible line 2 reductions in the 2015 budget totaling $389,300.
Possible line 1 reductions in the 2016 budget were reviewed totaling $739,540. No action will be taken on those reductions until the city gets its 1782 Notice from the Department of Local Government Finance on how much money from its 2016 budget needs cut.
• An additional appropriation for the parks and recreation department from a grant reimbursement for $1,275.
• An additional appropriation for the municipal airport from a Federal Aviation Administration reimbursement grant for $486,000.
• A transfer of $7,500 from the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory Equipment Replacement Fund (Other Capital Outlays) to the Replacement Fund (Other Services and Charges). The transfer was approved on first and second reading.
The purpose of the transfer is to allow funds to be paid to the Warsaw Wastewater Treatment Plant for overtime reimbursement and supplies used, Clay Fire Territory for labor reimbursement and Winona Lake Fire Department for reimbursement of apparatus usage at the Warsaw Chemical fire earlier this year. Funds were collected from the Warsaw Chemical Company, and are reimbursable by state statute to the assisting agencies involved, according to information provided.
• An ordinance authorizing the investment of public funds for more than two years but not more than five years. It was approved on first and second reading. The city has gone with Umbaugh for investing, as the council previously discussed.
(Story By The Times Union)