Not shoveling? Prepare to pay

If Colorado Springs residents don’t like to shovel snow in front of their homes or businesses, they should get out their checkbooks.

The city hires contractors at $30 to $48.50 per hour to shovel snow that hasn’t been cleared in compliance with city ordinances and also tacks on an administrative fee of $96 per property.

City ordinance requires property owners to shovel sidewalks bordering their homes and businesses 24 hours after the snow stops falling. If they don’t, they are given two warnings 24 hours apart before a contractor is called.

From Dec. 12 through Thursday, the city issued 478 first warnings and 146 second warnings. Only 14 haven’t complied, resulting in a contractor’s being called.

The bill depends on the size of the job, but contractors will charge a one-hour minimum fee per job, city spokeswoman Mary Scott said.

The city’s fee covers inspectors’ time, she said. If a contractor is called, an inspector has been out three times.

The ordinance isn’t new but is being enforced more aggressively after residents complained last year when the city had snowstorms for weeks running, Scott said.

“Council responded to those concerns by asking staff to make it a priority to enforce it this year, which is what we are doing,” Scott said.

After several readers raised questions Thursday about sidewalks for which the city is responsible, Scott acknowledged the city tries to abide by the law. She said she couldn’t respond to allegations without knowing exact locations.

The more aggressive stance doesn’t sit well with the elderly, disabled and others, several readers told The Gazette, especially when the city complicates the job.

Gisela Cisneros, 70, and her husband, Anthony, 80, live on North 25th Street. No sooner does Anthony Cisneros clear the corner lot’s sidewalks than a city snowplow roars by and covers them up again.

“It’s not inches, it’s feet,” she said. “We try to keep up with it, but it’s a pretty ridiculous law.”

Said Scott, “Unfortunately, it’s a reality that the snow has to go somewhere, and short of being able to clear the snow away, there’s not much we can do about it.”

Gisela Cisneros said times have changed since the day when youngsters were eager to make a few dollars by shoveling snow.

“There’s no young kids that years ago would help you out for a couple of bucks,” she said. “It isn’t like that anymore.”

Some adults pitch in, though.

Mike Klausmeier, who lives on Raindrop Circle North, said he and another resident often help an elderly neighbor.

But most everyone in his neighborhood shovels snow, so he doesn’t expect to see a city contractor working there for charges he considers “way out of line.”

“At that price, I’ll go into snow shoveling,” he said.

A spokesperson for one of the city-hired contractors, Trax Construction, said workers have had “no problems” with the city work.

What Klausmeier said he would like to see, though, is a city snowplow. He says none has been up his street in three years.

Scott said the city has adopted a new plowing strategy that includes residential streets.

While the city lacks manpower and equipment to get to all residential streets within the first 24 hours, crews try to work residential streets after main roads are treated.

Crews were working residential streets recently but when new snow fell, they returned to high-traffic arteries.

“A change from last year is that instead of working on residential streets just off complaints, they have established a grid system so that all neighborhoods get service,” depending on which parts of town are hardest hit, Scott said.

While the council allocated $200,000 more this year to fund a mix with a higher level of salt, “Without an extremely significant expenditure of money on more equipment and personnel, there is only so much that can be accomplished at a time,” Scott said.

To report a sidewalk that hasn’t been shoveled, call 385-5977.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0238 or pam.zubeck@gazette.com