Oswego trustees are looking at the village’s policy concerning mailboxes damaged by snow plows as part of a review of the town’s snow and ice control program.
Oswego Village President Troy Parlier had requested the village review its policies for snow and ice removal.
“In general the village has done a nice job but we stumbled on the cul-de-sacs with this first event (this winter),” Parlier said. “I thought we need to put more effort in the actual policies we have. There hasn’t been really anything put in since 2013.”
Clearing the village’s network of streets is one of the most challenging programs in the village because of the operations involved and unpredictability of storms in northern Illinois, Oswego Public Works Director Jennifer Hughes said in her report to trustees meeting as a committee of the whole Tuesday.
The responses for these types of operations are based on forecasts, she said.
“It’s easy to get caught sometimes,” Hughes said, referencing some storms that begin with snowfall that suddenly turns into freezing rain.
The village’s snow plow crews are called out as many as 40 times in a season to deal with snow and ice, Hughes said.
The village in 2011-12 began to contract out the snow plowing of cul-de-sacs to reduce the strain on the village’s snow crew. She said the village works to make sure the plowing is done correctly.
“We have gotten more safety conscious over time,” she said.
Hughes highlighted for the board the village’s policy concerning curbside mailboxes damaged during snow plowing.
The village reimburses residents up to $75 if a plow hits a mailbox. The village will not reimburse for damage if snow coming off the plow blade damages the box, she said.
One of the village’s supervisors will inspect the mailbox upon notification by a resident within three days of the event to determine the cause of damage, she said. Complaints tend to peak when the snow is wet and very heavy, as the snow itself will damage the box, according to Hughes.
The value of the reimbursement is limited to the cost to install a basic mailbox and post from a big box store, she said.
“We do talk with drivers to minimize (damage) but it does happen,” Hughes said.
Parlier was interested in knowing if there was a consensus to revise the village’s ordinance to increase the reimbursement for a damaged mailbox from $75 to $100.
“The policy has been around for a while and I don’t think $100 is outrageous,” Parlier said.
Four of the five trustees at the meeting indicated they would support increasing the reimbursement.
Trustee Pam Parr wanted to know how many complaints the village received so far this year concerning mailboxes.
“I get the feeling we are trying to solve problems that don’t exist. I would like information before we start to change ordinances,” Parr said.
Overall there were 32 work orders related to snow plowing this year, Hughes said. The number of damaged mailboxes depends on the snow storms in a given year.
“If we get a heavy wet snow we receive a lot of complaints about mailboxes even though we did not hit them. On average, we probably hit maybe 10 in a year,” Hughes said.
Village officials said they will report back on the number of complaints concerning mailboxes, those that were actually damaged from snow plows and the average cost to replace a residential mailbox.
Hughes said a common question the village receives from residents is why it doesn’t clear snow from fire hydrants.
“We have almost 3,000 fire hydrants. It would take 12 people working eight hours a day to cover that. We don’t have the manpower to do that. We do ask residents to clear the fire hydrants in front of their homes,” Hughes said.
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
