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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-24-18 Public Comment - E. Burrell - Snow Removal SolutionsFrom: Burrell, Erica To: Agenda Subject: Item for Agenda - Snow Removal Solutions Must Be Sought Date: Wednesday, January 24, 2018 2:35:13 PM Hello, This is my 8th winter in Bozeman. I’ve been working out of the house for several years and feel the frustration of snowy roads just as anyone; but as a long time public servant, I know that no matter how many complaints one may get – you cannot get blood out of a turnip. I think it far past time for complaining and we need to discuss finding solutions and increasing the number of plows we have operating on the road. It is obvious the city snow removal crews are not being provided enough resources. Here are my reasons below: There are only 15 snow plows for hundreds or even thousands of miles of roadways that see tens of thousands of people a day, yet we have over 45,000 people living in the city limits alone, thousands more come in and out every day for work The city crew logged 2,000 hours of overtime in November and December alone. How much overtime could have been avoided by having more people? This also proves the city employees are working hard enough, they do not have magic wands How many unused plows and unemployed people do we have that could pitch in on an hourly basis? How many hundreds of thousands of dollars do we spend each year on the many traffic accidents due to snowy and icy roads? How much local business is lost because of difficulty getting around? Does anyone have a handle on how much this costs us – is it more or less than what more plows would cost? We need to hold other agencies accountable for the many times that they fail to maintain heavily used roads, such as Huffine, which is often covered in many inches of snow during the morning commute City residents are (rightfully so) expected to keep their sidewalks clear – yet the roads we live on go untouched for weeks at a time. I understand why they have plow routes, that the routes are mapped that way for a reason, but it is simply unacceptable for our streets to go unplowed for so long the roads are not traversable Public Works Director Craig Woolard said, “Local streets are not the priority”. I understand why, given their current resources, that our local streets are not a priority. But it is still unacceptable and part of the problem Even if all the city does is help organize neighborhoods so they can raise money to pay for their local neighborhoods directly – it is a step in the right direction while we seek ways to increase our snowplow force I personally would be willing to have a winter snow fee to assist Census.gov says in 2016 Bozeman had 17,000 households, this is $255,000 per month for a hypothetical $15 snow removal fee Thank you, Erica Burrell Office Manager, Center for Health and Safety Culture Western Transportation Institute (WTI) – Rm # 357 Montana State University- Bozeman P.O. Box 170548 Bozeman, MT 59717-0548 Phone: (406)994-7873 E-mail: erica.burrell@montana.edu Website: http://www.CHSCulture.org