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Councilman calls for quicker snow removal
With snow in the forecast, McCook City Councilman Aaron Kircher remembers the large piles of it on the intersections at Norris Avenue last winter and wants them removed this year in a more timely matter.
"There were quite a few close calls that I witnessed," Councilman Kircher told Public Works Director Kyle Potthoff at the regular city council meeting Monday night. "It got pretty bad last year."
Potthoff reviewed with the council the city's procedures of snow and ice removal for this winter, including the use of a recently purchased snow plow, that will be attached to a three-quarter ton pickup and new equipment to dispense the product, "Apex," that causes the salt to melt faster and also allows the salt to be used at a lower temperature.
After reviewing the policies, Councilman Kircher asked if the snow removed from the street and piled at intersections on Norris Avenue could be removed more quickly than they were last year. The mounds of snow on the islands seemed to stick around awhile, he recalled.
Potthoff responded that crews first clear the intersections and initially stack the snow onto the islands, then go back and knock down the piles and spread them across the islands. This takes less time than to haul the snow away, he said.
But Councilman Kircher wasn't satisfied, and asked for the piles to get done as soon as possible, at least in a week..
"It shouldn't take us too long," he noted.
Crews are out concentrating on clearing streets, Potthoff answered, but would get to the piles as soon as time allowed.
Potthoff also stressed that those who shovel their sidewalks should wait until after the snow stops and to blow the snow onto the terrace and not the street. Placing snow from driveways into the street is prohibited.
He also told the council that the first roads to be plowed are the highways inside city limits, followed by the emergency snow routes, the airport and residential streets.
Additional emergency snow route signs will also be purchased, he said, in response to a question by Councilman Lonnie Anderson. The signs cost about $20 each, with 20 new ones purchased last year, Potthoff said.
He reminded the council that emergency snow routes are marked with green street signs with white lettering.
Salt brine from the water treatment plant also will be used again this year, and Potthoff said that they had good results with it last year.
The brine, a by-product of the water treatment plant, is used as an anti-icing solution and is sprayed onto the roads before severe weather to help prevent unsafe conditions.