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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 451 . ORDINANCE NO. 451 CITY OF MOUNDS VIEW COUNTY OF RAMSEY STATE OF MINNESOTA ORDINANCE ADOPTING THE SNOW AND ICE CONTROL POLICY The City Council of the City of Mounds View does hereby ordain: SECTION I. The Snow and Ice Control Policy as presented on November 28, 1988 and on file in the Clerk-Administrator's Office for public review is hereby adopted and shall become part of this ordinance. SECTION I I. This ordinance shall take effect thirty (30) days from and after the date of its publication. Read by the City Council of the City of Mounds View on this 12th day of December, 1988. . Read and passed by the City Council of the City of Mounds View this 27th day of December , 1988. ATTEST: (SEAL) . < .. SNOW AND ICE CONTROL POLICY ~ DETERMINATION OF NEED AND INTRODUCTION The City of Mounds View has determined that it is in the best interests of the residents for the Ci ty to assume basic responsibility for control of snow and ice on streets under the jurisdiction of the city. Appropriate snow and ice control is necessary for emergency services as well as routine travel. Providing this service in a cost effective manner is a discretionary decision of the City Council. Previously the City contracted with Ramsey County for these services; due to concerns with the cost effectiveness of contracting as well as timeliness of service, the City will now use City employees and equipment to provide this service. Therefore; this policy is needed to provide direction for these operations and guidelines for employees and residents based on available resources. The city of Mounds View has approximately 39 miles of streets under its jurisdiction. These are primarily local streets serving residential needs. In addition, Ramsey County has jurisdiction over approximately 11 miles of collector and arterial roads wi thin the City. Trunk Highway 10 and is under jurisdiction of the Minnesota Department of Transportation. This policy is intended to provide guidelines for snow and ice control operations for streets under the City's jurisdiction only. Some . sidewalks adjacent to County Roads are also covered by this policy. COMMENCEMENT OF OPERATIONS Snow and/or ice control operations shall commence under the direction of the Public Works Foreman. In his absence the police officer on duty and the public works standby man will consult and determine when and what operations to begin. The basis of dispatch calling the standby person to start operations shall be as follows. Snow accumulation of 2" with continuing snowfall warrants commencement of plowing operations. Drifting of snow may warrant commencement of partial or full operations dependent on conditions. Icing of pavements may warrant partial or full operations dependent on extent and condi tions. The Foreman sha 11 determine the time to start operations and the extent of operations. The Foreman shall prepare weekly crew assignments and shift assignments for personnel not on standby duty. Storms forecast for late afternoon or evening hours may be the basis for the Foreman splitting a shift and sending crew(s) home for callout later in the evening. Morning storms likewise may be the basis ~ for requesting crew(s) to report at later than normal hours. 1 SUSPENSION OF OPERATIONS . Operations shall continue until all roads are passable. Widening and clean up operations may continue immediately or the following working day dependent on conditions. Operations may also be suspended during periods of limited or zero visibility. Any decision to suspend operations shall be made by the supervisor on duty and shall be based on conditions of the storm. PLOW ROUTES AND SEOUENCING There are city streets, public sidewalks, public parking lots, and ice rinks under the City's jurisdiction which are affected by this policy. All City streets will be assigned to a route. Sidewalks along collector streets, and sidewalks serving public facilities shall be cleared by City forces after street routes are completed. city parking lots and ice rinks shall also be cleared after street routes have been completed. The attached map shall indicate plow routes and sidewalks, parking lots and ice rinks designated to be cleared. The Public Works Foreman has the responsibility of determining plow routes and sequencing of operations. The routes and sequencing shall be indicated on the route map. This map shall be adopted by the city Council and shall not be altered without consultation and approval of Council. The Foreman shall retain . latitude to adjust sequencing or route assignments based on storm conditions, equipment availability, and/or other conditions warranting changes. Priority locations are indicated on the route map. These locations are of public interest and may be given higher priority for response dependent on the time of day or other circumstance. These areas include the City Hall complex, schools, and locations of public interest. LEVEL OF SERVICE The intention of this policy is to provide safe winter driving conditions appropriate for the type of travel necessary on the City's streets. The level of service described herein shall be considered a guideline with the understanding that during and immediately after a storm the level of service provided may be less than described herein and may vary across the City dependent on storm conditions. Streets shall be plowed and/or sanded to provide intermittent bare pavement and sanded intersection approaches and curves. Cul-de-sacs and dead end streets may have few if any bare pavement spots. Gravel and dirt road surfaces shall be plowed to provide a hard pack surface with sand and/or abrasives spread for traction. ' . A minimum of as necessary chemicals will be used to achieve the conditions~iated and to . provide workable stock piles of sand and/or abrasives. . 2 , During light to normal snowfalls, streets will be plowed full width on the initial pass. During heavier snowfalls, streets . shall be plowed as wide as possible initially and widened as the storm intensity lessens. After the storm passes, clean up operations shall begin to clear intersections and snow storage areas along corners and boulevards. It is the City's intent to complete initial plowing and widening operations within 12 hours of the cessation of the storm. Clean up operations should be complete within 24 hours for light snowfalls, and within 48 hours for heavy snowfalls. Major blizzards may require additional time. PARKING RESTRICTIONS On street parking is not compatible with efficient snow plow operations. Vehicles left parked on the street for extended periods create problems for snow plowing as well as safety problems with packed snow and ice around the vehicle. Ticketing and/or towing of these vehicles may occur in conformance with city code. Additionally, after large accumulations of snow the ci ty may find it advisable to proscribe parking restriction to facili tate plowing and clean-up operations. In this event the Clerk-Administrator in consultation with council members shall determine the appropriate restriction and announce the restriction(s) through the media. These restriction may include odd/even side parking prohibitions or even complete parking prohibitions for certain streets. 4It PROPERTY DAMAGE Snow plowing and ice control operations can cause property damage even under the best of circumstances and carefulness on the part of the operators. The major types of damage are to improvements in the Right-of-Way and landscape damage. It is appropriate to specify when this damage shall be the responsibility of the City, and when it shall be the responsibility of the resident. Improvements in the Right-of-Way include mail boxes, planter boxes, lighting fixtures, and irrigation systems. These items have been placed in the City's property, in most instances, wi thout notification or permission of the City. Mai I boxes and similar objects are quite often obvious and easy to avoid. Low structures and irrigation systems are impossible to be aware of after a storm. Therefore; we have made stakes available to residents which they can use to identify low and underground structures. We recommend the city accept liability for structures which are obvious or are marked and which have been damaged by physically being struck by a plow blade or other piece of equipment. Mail boxes, lights, etc. should be constructed sturdy enough to wi thstand snow rolling off a plow or wing. Therefore, damage resulting from snow is the responsibility of the resident. Items . which have not been staked in accordance with City pol icy are ~ 3 also the responsibility of the resident. . The City will repair, replace, or reimburse the resident in those instances where the city is liable. The City will have the choice of whether to repair or replace; and will only reimburse the cost of materials in instances where it is in the City's best interest. Lawn damage will be repaired by top dressing and seeding. In no case will the City undertake or pay for sodding. In instances where the resident and the Public Works Department disagree about the source of damage and the responsibility therefore, the Clerk-Administrator will determine the issue. Appeals of his decision will be handled by the City Council. RESPONSIBILITIES OF RESIDENTS Snow storms create numerous problems and inconveniences. This pol icy has identified streets, sidewalks, parking lots, and ice rinks that the City will clear. The residents also have certain responsibilities. These include clearing their own driveways and private sidewalks, clearing areas for trash cans, clearing areas around mail boxes and/or newspaper delivery tubes, and clearing around fire hydrants adjacent to their property. These areas should be cleared without depositing any snow onto the streets. There must also be no large piles which obstruct vision of driveways or walks. Trash cans must not be placed on the street surfaces. In the case of clearing fire hydrants, the City will consider clearing these for residents not physically able to do . so. Residents must request this service form the Public Works Foreman, and the Foreman shall determine who is eligible. Should the city need to clear away tall piles of snow for safe sight distance at driveways or walks, the resident responsible may be billed at overtime rates for this work. The city will not clear private drives or walks except in emergency situations as determined by the Clerk-Administrator. Snow plowing operations can cause additional snow to be deposited in driveway approaches and around roadside obstacles. Operators are instructed to attempt to minimize these incidents, but it is not practical to eliminate this situation. Residents should be aware that they may have to clear their driveways a second time after their street has been plowed. Only in extraordinary circumstances will the City consider clearing driveway approaches, and this will only be done at the authorization of the Clerk-Administrator. COMPLAINT PROCEDURE Complaints regarding snow and ice control or damage shall be taken during normal working hours and handled in accordance with the City's normal complaint procedure. High priority complaints (those involving access to property or problems requiring immediate attention) shall be handled on a priority basis. . Response time should not exceed 24 hours for any complaint. It 4 should be understood that complaint responses are to insure that the provisions of this policy have been fulfilled and that all . residents of the City have been treated uniformly. Complaints regarding the provisions of this policy may not be satisfied with the initial response. It is the City's intention to log all complaints and upgrade this policy as necessary and in consideration of the constraints of our resources. . . 5 .. i\ffibauit of 'ubUcation ; / !i,;talt uf 1WIiUUt!lnta} 55. Qlounty of 1!UtW5.ey N. Theodore Lillie , being duly sworn, on oath says that he/she is the publisher or authorized agent and employee of the publisher of the newspaper known as New Briqhton Bulletin , and has full knowledge of the facts which are stated below: (A) The newspaper has complied with all of the requirements constituting qualification as a qualified newspaper, as provided by Minnesota Statute 33)HA.02, 331 A.07, and other applicable laws, as amended. (B) The printed Ordinance No. 45l which is attached was cut from the columns of said newspaper, and was printed and published once each week, for 1 successive weeks; it was first published on Wednesday, the 11th day of Jan. , 19 ~, and was thereafter printed and published on every lJ' to and including , the day of , 19 _; and printed below is a copy of the lower case alphabet from A to Z, both inclusive, which is hereby acknowledged as being the size and kind of type used in the composition and publication of the notice: . ABCDEF6HIJKLMNC3PQRSTUVlt:XYZ , . ABCI'lCr01I1JI(U;1NOr6A:3Tu'....")f(Z 71- -J/;~ /~ . abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz BY: TITLE: 1/. f? Subscribed and sworn to before me on this l2th day ~ Jan., 19 ~, Oa/,LJ<._ ~ [/k{L/yI~ Notary Public * Alphabet should be in the same size and kind of type as the notice. RATE INFORMATION (1) Lowest classified rate paid by commercial users for comparable space. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . , . . . . . $10.31 per co!. inch (2) Maximum rate allowed by law for the above matter. . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . $7.04 per co!. . ~ inch' ,.j. (3) Rate actually charged for the above matter ............,....... .$ per col. inch 1/88 , .' , ,., i, ' .::;;'\"..1: -...~..--;- . OftDlNANCE NO. 451 , I ,,:~..pf[~'(:9F MOUNDS VIEW , ",:;;. CbClNTY OF RAMSEY STATE OF MINNESOTA ORDINANCE ADOPTING THE SNOW AND ICE ,CON- .- TROL POLICY The City Council of the City of Mounds View does hereby ordain: ., SECTION I. The Snow and Ice Control Policy as I' presented on November 28, 1988 and on file in the ~I Clerk-Administrator's Office for public review is hereby adopted and shall become part of this ordinance, SECTION II, This ordinance shall take effect thirty 'I (30) days from and after the date of its publication, Read by the City Council of'the City of Mounds View I on this, ~2th day of December, 1988. , Read and passed by the City Council of the City of Mounds View this 27th day of December, 1988. ATTEST: .,..-0.':' _,.... . I Jerome LInke Mayor Donald Pauley Clerk-Administrator (Bulletin: Jan, 11, 1989) "". .. .,- .--- ,.. .. '~ - ,,.