Standing Committee Meeting

MEETING OF STANDING COMMITTEES City Hall, 220 Clay Street March 20, 2023 The meeting of Standing Committees met at City Hall at 5:40 p.m. on March 20, 2023, with the following Committee persons in attendance: Councilmembers Susan deBuhr, Kelly Dunn, Simon Harding, Daryl Kruse, Dustin Ganfield, Gil Schultz, and Dave Sires. Staff members from all City Departments and members of the community attended in person. Public Works Committee: Chair Schultz called the meeting to order and introduced the only item on the Public Works Committee Agenda, Review snow removal practices and policies and introduced the Public Works Director, Chase Schrage. Director Schrage introduced Operations & Maintenance Division Manager, Brian Heath. Mr. Health gave an overview of the City’s snow & ice control operations that included: winter preparation, snow removal coverage, employee team and mass notification for a snow event, general guidelines, decision making factors that determine snow and ice control activities, and snow removal timeline. Mr. Heath reviewed the arterial roadways, routes, fleet of vehicles, the efficiency of the newer plows, telematics, and the winter operations costs for 2022/2023. Mr. Heath explained the importance of the environmental steps the city utilizes, salt & brine storage facilities, anti-ice applicators and the production of the brine. Mr. Heath broke down the snow hauling operations for 2022/2023 for the Parkade, College Hill and the high school and described the equipment needed for those areas. Mr. Heath explained the City’s success is due to its dedicated employees. Mr. Heath welcomed residents and Councilmembers to tour the Public Works facility. Council members expressed their appreciation to the staff. Councilmembers discussed residential snow removal, snow removal of recreational trails, holiday hours and snow removal on roundabouts. Community Development Committee: Chair Harding called the meeting to order and introduced the only item on the Community Development Committee Agenda, Code Enforcement – private snow removal code revisions discussion and introduced Building Official Jamie Castle. Ms. Castle explained duplicate sections in Ordinance 19-4 and would recommend keeping 19-185. Ms. Castle recommended replacing any portion within the code that uses specially named staff to say “City Staff”, use “snow and ice” rather than “natural accumulation of snow and ice” and change “reasonable amount of time” to “within 48 hours of the snow event”. Ms. Castle recommends changing the property owners’ responsibility for snow removal to be the full width of the sidewalk for safety and accessibility and include sidewalk corners for safety, ability to cross and useability of sidewalk. When snow removal of snow at a corner is not feasible, City staff can approve an alternative route that allows pedestrians the ability to cross the street. Ms. Castle stated property owners’ responsibility would include all sidewalks being cleared of snow with no exceptions. Ms. Castle asked Councilmembers for a motion to direct staff to revise appropriate sections of the code that included: reorganization and consolidation; updating terminology; definition of internal responsibilities; timelines of removal; and extent of property owners’ responsibilities. Councilmembers discussed: trail vs. sidewalk snow removal; abandonment of sidewalks; high use pedestrian areas; ADA compliancy; trails in lieu of sidewalks; sidewalks shoveled to pavement; placement of stickers on vacant properties; and cost of snow removal if a property is invoiced. Director Schrage stated the City is working with INRCOG for QR codes for trail information. Chair Harding called for public comment. Janice King, 1422 College Street, spoke in concern of removing snow at sidewalk corners. Andrew Shroll, speaking on behalf of the Cedar Falls Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, discussed maps of recreations trails available online, support of changes to Ordinance 19-4 as discussed tonight and 8-10’ trails on commercial and residential property. It was motioned by Ganfield and seconded by Schultz to have staff revise appropriate sections of the code to address reorganization and consolidation, updating terminology, and defining internal responsibilities, timelines of removal and extent of property owner’s responsibilities. The motion was put to vote. Aye: deBuhr, Dunn, Harding, Kruse, Ganfield, Schultz and Sires; Nay: None. Motion passed. Meeting adjourned at 6:55 p.m. Minutes by Kim Kerr, Administrative Supervisor