ES residents ask city to do better at clearing snow, ice

A handful of residents addressed the Eureka Springs City Council at its regular meeting on Monday, Feb. 9, saying the city didn’t do enough to clear streets in the aftermath of the recent snow and ice.

Residents specifically mentioned areas parallel to Mountain Street, including Owen Street and Elk Street that needed attention after the winter weather, saying during public comments that plows never assisted — or didn’t do enough — in clearing the roadway.

“I’m here today to ask the city council to look at reviewing our hazardous street policy for when we have inclement weather,” said Ann Sallee, who lives on Elk Street and is also a member of the city’s planning commission and Board of Zoning Adjustment. “… People couldn’t get in and out. Can’t get an ambulance, can’t get fire trucks. I do know you can get a plow down the street because it did come down. I got all excited to have them go clear the Unitarian Church parking lot. Unfortunately, they had to cancel church because the street wasn’t clear. I know we have sand trucks. We all pay taxes. We’re not a real young community in age, and I think it is a real serious issue.”

Residents of Owen Street agreed, saying they paid $150 for a private company to plow the roadway.

“Everybody on our street is probably 65 and over,” an Owen Street resident told council members. “It’s really important that we make sure that these streets are plowed. I know Mountain was plowed, and if Mountain could be plowed, and our street could be plowed because we paid for it, I think the rest of the streets could be plowed.”

Interim public works director Sean Mellon apologized to residents if his department didn’t handle the winter weather on streets in a timely fashion.

“As far as the snow removal, I apologize if we didn’t get to Owen in a timely matter,” Mellon said. “We had two trucks running 24 hours a day when the snow hit until Monday morning. There is a list of the streets, what to plow, and I have talked with the mayor about that, and it may need to be revisited on priorities of roads. We’ve also discussed with the mayor about getting a smaller plow that fits on our smaller trucks to get to some the most narrow roads in this town, which the mayor is giving me the go-ahead to get that arranged for next time.

“So, the snow removal process is a work in progress. We can make it better. We will visit the problem.”