Snow removal hot topic at city council

With nearly 50 inches of snow recorded so far this winter, it's no surprise Cloquet residents feel like the streets are not up to their usual standards. Waits have been longer, and the piles of snow at corners and in parking lots (and everywhere else) are much higher.

While people know there's been a lot of snow, many are still frustrated. Jeremy Johnson, who lives on the 300 block of 21st Street in Cloquet, told the Cloquet City Council Tuesday that he and his neighbors feel like second-class citizens.

"I have to do a three- to five-point turn just to get out of my driveway," said Johnson, whose driveway backs into an alleyway behind his house. "I have a three-quarter-ton truck and I've gotten stuck, so I know my neighbors have gotten stuck."

The plows had come through that morning, he said, crediting the response to his own repeated calls to the city. Still, the path through the alley left him with only inches to spare on either side of his truck.

At-large councilor Lara Wilkinson said she has gotten complaints from other citizens, and asked for a presentation on city snow and ice removal at a future meeting, along with discussion. "We've done the same thing [this year] that we've done the past couple years that everybody loved," public works director Caleb Peterson told the Pine Knot News after the meeting. "The only thing that's changed is the weather."

Start times are still 3 a.m., but it takes longer to clear snow when there's 2 feet of wet stuff, he said. Additionally, when there are cars parked on the street (in violation of city code prohibiting overnight parking in winter) it means crews will have to come back again to try to clear that street, at least doubling the time spent.

According to the 17-page policy outlined at https://bit.ly/3XqtEQI, the city has clearly identified priority routes that connect major sections of the city and provide access for emergency services. Second-priority streets are those providing access to schools and commercial businesses. Low-volume residential streets are third priority, and fourth is alleyways and city parking lots. Fifth priority goes to any sidewalks or trails identified for plowing.

In the case of a normal snowfall of a few inches, crews can often get everything plowed by the start of the workday. This winter Peterson said city staff have been working overtime, 12-hour days and most weekends since the first snowstorm last month.

City administrator Tim Peterson described how removing snow takes five people and five pieces of equipment, working in tandem with three dumptrucks, a grader and a giant snowblower. Since the large storm, he said, the crews have had only two weekends off, and came in at 3 or 4 a.m. and worked full shifts the other weekends. Clearing all the entrances and exits to the city's schools took four days this week, he noted.

"They might not be down your road every day, widening it, but they are certainly out all day, every morning, and it keeps snowing," he said.

As for Johnson, he said widening and scraping down the alley would be amazing.

Caleb Peterson said crews need to get a loader or backhoe into the alleys and clear the snow, which is now closer to levels the city would usually see in March. They started the process of clearing alleys last week.

"That being said, everytime it snows we have to pull the crews and go over everything else," he said.

In other matters:

• Councilors reappointed Lauren Herbert to Cloquet's Citizen Advisory Board, which works with the police department on hirings, firings and disciplinary matters. Ward 4 councilor Kerry Kolodge called her "a voice of reason" who helped the CAB get through tough times.

• The council had a first reading of a city code amendment that would reduce the number of Planning Commission members from seven to five due to a lack of volunteers. Over the past two years, the board has mostly operated with five members, and reducing the number would also decrease the number required to have a quorum.

• The council selected the Minnesota-based 106 Group for the cultural riverfront placemaking project, which will be funded by a $50,000 grant from the Blandin Foundation. Members of the advisory committee that evaluated the two proposals included city staff, Jeff Savage of the FDL Reservation Museum, Carol Klitzke of the Carlton County Historical Society, Fond du Lac tribal chair Kevin Dupuis, mayor Roger Maki and councilor Lyz Jaakola.

The consulting firm focused more on the goal of community engagement, community development director Holly Hansen told the council. It also includes at least one local team member, Sarah Agaton Howes, who is a designer/facilitator. Group 106 will lead community members in an engagement process to determine what signs to create, including both Ojibwe and settler histories, starting this spring.

• City administrator Tim Peterson praised members of the Lumberjacks high school ski team and Cloquet Ski Club for volunteering "hundreds of hours" to help clear the ski trails in December, calling it an amazing experience. "We would not have been able to accomplish that [without them]," he said.