Snow clearing in question

Moorcroft Mayor Dick Claar praised Public Works Director Cory Allison for his decision to clear the municipal streets after the previous storm that recently hit the town at Monday night’s meeting. “Your crew did a great job,” he said.

He then brought the council’s focus to the problem of the Texas Trails Subdivision, where it takes ten to 12 hours to pick up the snow being plowed to the middle of the streets, according to Allison. The body unanimously disagreed with allowing this extra work to be falling to the municipal crews when, as Councilman Ben Glenn reiterated, “We [clear to the side] everywhere else in town.”

Regarding picking up snow from the center of the road, the mayor concurred, “I don’t think we ought to be doing it.”

Allison commended the help of Jerry Fischbach and Bob Stewart, who clear drives and roadways. “On that last storm, we only spent about 20 minutes out there, but, with budget cuts, I’d rather be plowing all of these streets than spending our money picking up out there,” he said.

Councilman Owen Mathews noted the efforts of these two individuals, but expressed how they are in fact exacerbating the problem: “You have some neighbors who are very kind and they clean the driveways, but that gets put in the middle of the street also, which puts that much more on the town to get rid of.”

Clerk/Treasurer Cheryl Schneider, who lives in the subdivision, told the council about young people driving recklessly around the high piles and also mentioned the difficulty of getting out when another vehicle inadvertently blocks the narrow path caused by the snow in the middle. “I couldn’t go anywhere, I just had to sit there and wait,” she said.

Allison reported that he has not yet ordered his crew to pick up the snow from the subdivision, but said that if the body authorizes plowing to the side, they will have to do so one last time. He suggested asking those who are interested in discussing the matter with the council further, to attend the next meeting of the council on December 23.

The governing body, after deliberating over the situation, agreed and will entertain a discussion and explanation for residents of the subdivision for the necessity of changing the plowing practice in the Texas Trails Subdivision in the future.