When The Snow Finally Falls, Village Will Be Ready

When the last leaves fall from the trees and the signs of fall begin to fade, the Shorewood Department of Public Works is already about seven months into their preparation for the coming winter.

“We start preparing for the following year at the end of the previous year,” said Paul Wasemiller, assistant director to the Department of Public Works.

Over the summer, the DPW purchased a new skid loader and a plow for the front to help with snow removal from sidewalks and crosswalks. They have never had a plow for the front of a skid loader.

When it comes to salt, the DPW is not in short supply.

“We used less than we were allotted last year because of the mild winter,” said Wasemiller. “Our storage facility is full right now.”

In the 2013 adopted budget, the amount of money allotted to the salt contract is down $10,802 from the 2012 budget. In past years, Wasemiller said that they would have already had to start salting, but due to the mildness of the weather so far, that has not happened.

Overall, the village has $107,584 budgeted for winter maintenance, down from the previous budget of $111,895.

Wasemiller had a few reminders for residents to keep in mind when shoveling their snow this winter: 

• Don’t shovel your snow into the street.

• Shovel snow downhill; this keeps it from melting, covering your driveway and then refreezing at night. Shovel to where you want it to melt.

• Make sure you shovel out a place for your garbage cart on the sidewalk, there is a city ordinance that requires this.

Alongside the DPW, the village plays its own part in helping prepare for the winter.

“We basically do education,” Village Manager Chris Swartz said. “We talk about regulations with snow through communication to the public.”

Part of that education are reminding residents of the changes to parking that are in place from December 1 through March 1. These changes prohibit parking on certain sides of most residential area streets at any time. The affected areas are posted with signs indicating the restriction. 

Also, residents must remove snow from their sidewalks for people to walk through within 12 hours of snowfall or risk a $15 fee, $70 citation and a $50/hour removal rate.

The preparations put in by the DPW and the village only work if the residents do their part to make clean up after a storm as simple as possible.

“Snow is that thing where you love it and you hate it,” Wasemiller said. “Everybody wants a white Christmas but nobody wants to be shoveling on Christmas day.”