MANCHESTER, N.H. – A pair of proposed ordinance amendments proposed by Manchester resident Troy Micklon will be heading for further review after the Tuesday, Feb. 3 Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting.
The first proposal sought to amend Chapter 71 of the Manchester, NH Code of Ordinances. Currently in Chapter 71, which deals with snow emergency regulations, the Public Works Department director can start and conclude a snow emergency at their discretion depending on weather conditions, prohibiting parking on public streets so snow plows can clear roads. Generally, the end of these prohibitions come at 6 a.m. to align with the 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. odd/even address overnight parking bans from Dec. 1 and April 15.
Instead, Micklon wanted to address the gap that occurs after a snow emergency ends when it comes to vehicles that did not move, providing Aldermen with a handout providing an overview of his proposal as well as other communities that have comparable policies. (see below)
Micklon’s public comment regarding the idea was followed by Jeannette Lund of Beacon Street, a Manchester resident that also sought change in the city’s plowing policies. She told the board that she had complained four times about the fact that her sidewalk has not been plowed in 28 years. Lund added that some of her neighbors were not ticketed during a parking ban and that the lack of snow removal and enforcement of parking ban rules made life difficult for neighborhood students walking to school and neighbors that had difficult navigating through the snow. She also questioned why snow removal could not be improved in her neighborhood while the city approved bonding for a new skate park.
“When you’re a senior citizen and you start having health issues, it’s not fun and games,” she said to the board. “All I am asking for is what everybody else gets because I pay my taxes. So, I ask you, are you going to give me a rebate on my taxes for the past 28 years? No, you certainly will not, will you?”
The issue of improving enforcement of parking bans during snow emergencies has been a subject of several recent Aldermanic meetings, including particular frustration with Karatzas Avenue in Ward 6.
While Ward 6 Alderman Crissy Kantor said that the situation on Karatzas Avenue had improved, she requested that the board investigate the feasibility of bringing Micklon’s idea to reality.
Although it was unclear if the charter change would conflict with other efforts to improve snow removal efficiency, it was agreed that the idea was worth further examination in the Board of Mayor and Aldermen’s Committee on Public Safety and then Committee on Bills on Second Reading if a positive recommendation from Public Safety obtained full board approval.
Despite the need to improve snow removal procedures, the board still had praise for the Department of Public Works’ efforts given the sheer scale of what needed to be done.
Department of Public Works Director Tim Clougherty told the board that 5,500 labor hours had been expended in snow removal efforts after last week’s storm, with streets being snow plowed for 48 hours straight after the beginning of the storm.
Ward 5 Alderman Jason Bonilla asked if volunteer groups could help with sidewalk snow removal for residents such as Lund during storms where Department of Public Works employees could not assist in a quick manner. Clougherty noted that there are approximately 35 full-time position vacancies in his department, some of which could be used for snow removal efforts if filled.
Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais also said that additional information could be provided to residents through text message alerts and snow removal requests could be reported to the city through the See-Click-Fix app.
The other Micklon proposal, discussed earlier in the year, sought to add a response to public comment comparable to the period provided during Board of School Committee meetings. This proposal will go before the Board of Mayor and Aldermen Committee on Administration and Information Systems.