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Item No: 7E Meeting Date: November 14, 2011 Type of Business: Council Business Administrator Review: ____ City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: Nick DeBar, Public Works Director Item Title/Subject: Resolution 7855, Approving Revisions to the Snow Plowing and Ice Control Policy Background: Public Works is responsible for snow plowing and ice control operations on all city-owned streets (40+ miles), trails and sidewalks (15+ miles), and public facility parking lots (11 lots). Prior to the 1988/1989 winter, the City contracted with Ramsey County to provide these services. Due to issues with cost effectiveness and timeliness of the snow plowing provided by Ramsey County, the City began these operations in-house. As part of taking on snow plowing duties in-house, a snow and ice control policy approved by the City Council on December 27, 1988 and adopted by ordinance (451) that added Chapter 901 (Snow and Ice Control Policy) to the Municipal Code. Discussion: City staff drafted a new policy for the snow plowing and ice control operations. While there has been some review of the policy over the last 23 years, there have not been any revisions to the original policy. The League of Minnesota Cities (LMC) developed model policy language for snow plowing and ice control operations. This model policy is for guideline purposes only since each city has unique and specific circumstances that may dictate a different approach than what the model recommends. City staff utilized the LMC model to develop a new version of the policy and tweaked it to reflect our city- specific operations and needs. The City Council reviewed and discussed the draft policy at their work session on November 7, 2011. Also discussed was the recommendation to delete the policy from Chapter 901 from the Municipal Code since the Code’s purpose is to regulate people and private property and establish penalties if these regulations are violated. Snow plowing and ice control is a city-provided service and does not fall under these categories. An ordinance will be required to complete this process. Attached to this report is a final draft of the new snow plowing and ice control policy. Tables 1 and 2 have been added to the policy with information used for determining priorities for snow plowing operations. Exhibit B (Priority Snow Plow Route Map for Streets) has been updated to reflect the sub- ranking of the priority snow plow routes. These street segments are all priority routes. Recommendation: Staff recommends that the City Council review the final policy draft and consider adopting the attached resolution. The current policy is very outdated and not reflective of current practices and operations. The new version will provide the City with a defensible document and better risk management. Respectfully submitted, Nick DeBar - Public Works Director Attachments: • Resolution 7855 • Snow Plowing and Ice Control Policy (Final Draft)