Plow plan still in question

Several years ago, the Moorcroft Town Council approved moving the accumulated snow to the center of the roadways in the Texas Trails subdivision for the benefit of the inhabitants, resident Bill Peters reminded the current governing body on Monday night. Almost every seat in the council chamber was filled as residents gathered to make their argument against this council’s current plan to plow to the side.

As the conversation opened, Mayor Dick Claar explained that the predominant reason why the town is planning to reverse that previous decision is financial; the town simply cannot afford the extra expense of picking those center piles up. The mayor reported that last year, the town spent $200,000 on hiring contractors to help get the snow off of the streets because of the exceptional snowfall and the street budget is “broke” this fiscal term.

Picking up the snow, even without the need for subcontractors, is a steep cost for a municipality that is desperately looking for savings in the budget.

“If we have to spend the day out there,” explained Claar, “It costs the tax payers in Moorcroft $3000-$4000.”

Jerry Fischbach, resident and unofficial spokesman for the Texas Trails subdivision, responded, “I don’t think you guys understand the ramification in that subdivision if you plow to the outside.” He brought to the attention of the governing body the fact that the lay of the site has always been a wind tunnel from Interstate 90, bringing drifts.

With the added snow from plowing to the side, the drifts in some areas could easily reach heights of four to five feet, he said, adding, “There’s nothing you can do to stop that from happening.”

The crowd also noted that in the time it takes public works to arrive at the subdivision, Fischbach already has the majority of the work done. Fischbach told the body that he can plow everything to the middle of a street within half an hour.

“Everybody [is] able to get out of their driveways and put their dumpsters out where they need to go and get them back,” he said.

He went on to tell the body of the potential dangers to the people dealing with the snow plowed into drain areas and yard, saying that with spring thaws comes the potential of flooded basements and blocked drains, all of which has happened before.

Claar told the audience that the same situation exists in the main body of the town.

“We [also] have people who get their driveways plowed in and they get a hold of somebody with an ATV to clean it out and sometimes, if we have that chance when they call city hall, we go back and clear their driveway,” he said. He added that Public Works Director Cory Allison, “believes that his people can get the entire subdivision done to the side in an hour”.

This realization moved Councilman Paul Smoot to express concern that Fischbach is essentially doing the job of the town’s public works department.

“As much as you’ve been doing and as much as I appreciate it, it also concerns me a little; what is sustainable for this town? If something happens to you tomorrow and you’re not able to do that anymore?” he said.

“It tells me that we need to look at this as a town a little closer because if we have private citizens who are doing the work that we are trying to accomplish as a town, I think that we are missing the boat somewhere. As much as what you’re doing is amazing, it sounds to me like you have a better handle on the flow that goes on out there than our maintenance people. I find that concerning.”

Fischbach has been a diligent volunteer, shoveling the roads, drives and sidewalks with his company skid steer for many years to the gratitude of his neighbors. After he explained further his volunteer activities within the subdivision, concern was expressed by members of the council regarding his lack of liability insurance for this specific area of work.

While he assured the body that he works under his company insurance, there was doubt that this particular volunteer work would be covered in the event of a lawsuit.

House District #1 Representative Tyler Lindholm, who was in attendance, spoke to this issue, sharing possible options that could not only protect Fischbach’s potential liability, but also relieve the question of incoming councils changing the practices of snow removal in the subdivision which, due to the unique problems of drifting, agreed residents, must be accorded a different criteria then the rest of the township.

“The benefit to Jerry in this regard is under the Wyoming Governmental Protection Act is that it limits what kind of lawsuits could be filed against someone acting in behalf of a political subdivision. So if an accident were to happen, a liability would lay with the town whereas for you, as a company, there is no limit to the liability they can go after,” Lindholm said.

He then addressed the advantage to the other tenants: “An assessment district through the town [that] you can set up and write, basically for road maintenance, just the snow plowing.”

Speaking to the residents’ concern about the snow piling up on their walkways, Claar admitted his understanding of residents wanting to push the snow from their sidewalks back onto the street. However, the ordinance iterates that the homeowner must not do so; rather they are expected to shovel onto their lawn.

He suggested that the town would be willing to ignore the municipal law requiring homeowners to shovel their drives and sidewalks away from the streets, saying, “I think we need to continue to ignore that ordinance because you have to have a place to push your snow.” To clarify this apparent contradiction, Texas Trails Subdivision inhabitant Marge Reed asked him to clarify, “So if I shovel my driveway by hand, I can push it to the street? Is that what you’re saying?”

“The ordinance says you can’t,” the mayor responded, “but we haven’t enforced that ordinance is what I’m saying.”

Resident Bill Peters voiced his frustration: “Plow to the middle and leave it, we’ll take care of it. It’s more of a pain for us property owners when you come along and shove it all up into our yards, sidewalks and block our driveways and we have to spend extra time out to get out there and clean that up.”

Mayor Claar and his council, of whom sat Councilmen Paul Smoot and Dale Petersen, approved plowing the site to the side. Said Claar, “I think we need to try it and whatever problems come up, we need to talk about it and see if what we’re doing is the correct thing.”