Winter was coming. Now it’s here. Dusting the area over the weekend, white powder fell from the sky to coat sidewalks and roads across the area. The weekend snowfall replenished thinning snow …
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Winter was coming. Now it’s here. Dusting the area over the weekend, white powder fell from the sky to coat sidewalks and roads across the area. The weekend snowfall replenished thinning snow with around two to three inches, as below temperatures ensuring it will stay for the time being. That meant an old Public works tradition: snow removal.
“Snow removal,” Public Works Operator in Charge Joe Schmitt wrote for both work completed and planned in his bi-monthly council report. Also in the work completed, Schmitt listed organization and cleaning of the POL oil room, weekly trash pickup, filling of potholes with bag patch, several roadkill pickups thought city, repair of a hydraulic cylinder on the white plow truck burning of the brush pile. Schmitt additionally wrote that heat had been hooked up and was working in the county building, Christmas trees had been picked up, two quotes were received for plow truck bed replacement and repair, assistance given the water department with personnel shortage. Schmitt wrote that the bathroom had been renovated at the county building to accommodate storage of city signs, vandalism had cleaned up at the Maves building and the Christmas lights had been turned off. Looking towards summer, he wrote that the Rodeo Committee had been contacted “to ensure we are still on track with moving their stuff out.
As for work planned in coming weeks, Schmitt wrote that the dam actuator appointment had been rescheduled after being cancelled due to “wintry weather,” with snow removal, take down of Christmas lights, continued training for Terry in the Street Department, and elk herd management. Also in work planned was “digging up water leak and central water plant,” along with followup on Soo Line building construction and completion, a Bike Path Committee meeting on Jan. 8, and reaching out to the DNR about aerators being put in the lake.
As for issues to be addressed, Schmittwrote “shortage of trained personnel for winter snow operations” and “Soo Line Building completion and incompletion.”
In planned training at Public Works, Schmitt wrote of “winter snowplow training for the two new employees” and “ monthly safety training.”
Closing out with pertinent information for the council, Schmitt wrote that the city’s welcome sign was “getting in rough shape” and that the city should start looking at ideas for repair and replacement, while work was ongoing with the Rodeo committee on the north side of the Armory building, a looked for completion date of end of March to early April.