Basketball hoops face vehicle parking citations if not moved from city roadsides this winter

Is your motor vehicle and/or basketball hoop parked safely away from the curb and in the driveway, or else garage? If not, it could cost you a parking ticket this holiday snowfall season.

Checking with the Stanley Police Department Friday afternoon after snow briefly touched down overnight, the fine for residents who leave their vehicles on the road overnight after Monday November 15 through April 1 in snow restrictions, will face a fine of $15. This factors in to what will come next, with the latest bimonthly report by city public works operatorin- charge John Hoel mentioning among planned work these next two weeks that of…snow removal!

“Snow removal as needed, equipment maintenance and repairs, organizing the shop, inspecting all the Christmas decorations and lights and hanging them up, assisting water and sewer as needed,” Hoel wrote the Council in his report dated for Thursday November 11.

A more pressing concern however, are the large and heavy glass doors at the Community Center, which Hoel said need to have something done for safety reasons, such as installing openers.

“Something needs to be done with the overhead doors in the Community Center,” he wrote. “With those doors being all glass, they are extremely heavy and need to have openers installed on them. If you open those doors they will come right back down because there is nothing to hold them open.”

Talking with another city worker on the matter, Hoel said the decision had been made to try and wind the springs tighter for the doors to stay open.

“I talked with Dean about this and we are going to try and wind the springs tighter, because those doors should stay open,” Hoel said. That wasn’t all, though.

"The other major concern with them is, if someone were to pull on the rope when the doors are open accidentally or on purpose, those doors will come down extremely fast. Which could result in someone being seriously injured or worse and possibly cause major damage to the doors themselves,” Hoel made known. With a look being taken into just what openers will work best and the best way to install without “interfering” with the sprinkler system, the public works department also made a note of basketball hoops along the road.

“Being that the winter season is fast approaching we have a concern with residents that have basketball hoops alongside the road,” he went on. “Two years ago, one of the plow truck operators struck a hoop and damaged not only the hoop but also the truck. Ever since then I have gone throughout the City and distributed the door hangers asking residents that have them, to move them away from the curb prior to the November 15th no parking restrictions. In the past most residents have complied with removing them,” Hoel wrote, saying that he had spoken with Chief Weiland and received agreement that hoops not removed prior to November 15 will be treated “the same as a vehicle parked on the road” and that homeowners could receive a citation for not removing them.

As to the glass doors, it was decided at Monday’s meeting to tighten the springs for now, but also price out door openers.