Cheney changes snow ordinance

Cheney’s City Council has elected to fast-track proposed changes to the way the city plows streets after snow starts to accumulate.

At its Feb. 14 meeting, the council unanimously approved all three readings and final passage of changes to the city ordinance proposed by the Police Department governing snow removal. The changes remove language defining the hours vehicles must be off the streets in order for plows to clear snow once a minimum of two inches has accumulated, which was previously between midnight and 6 a.m.

Under the new ordinance, vehicles must be off city streets at all hours during heavy snowfalls, and remain off the streets until they are cleared. The new language also allows the department’s Volunteers in Policing to assist officers in ticketing and, if needed, marking and removing vehicles parked on the streets in violation of the ordinance.

Police Chief John Hensley said the changes were needed to improve public safety, language that is also inserted into the new ordinance, not only for motorists but pedestrians as well. City crews are capable of removing snow fairly quickly after a large snowfall, a process that can be impeded by vehicles parked on streets.

Hensley also said the department makes every effort to contact a vehicle’s owner before resorting to having it towed and impounded. Officers have written over 100 tickets so far this winter, as compared to having just over a dozen vehicles towed.

The council voted 6-0 to pass the ordinance. Councilman Doug Nixon was not present at the meeting.

“This is a really good idea,” Councilwoman Jill Weiszmann said in support of the changes. “There are some streets you can barely get one car going down.”

Council also gave its unanimous approval to the Parks and Recreation Department’s request to apply for a $5,000 Spokane Parks Foundation grant in order to build a nine-hole Frisbee golf course at Hagelin Park next to the city’s swimming pool. City Administrator Mark Schuller said the idea comes from the Cheney Youth Commission.

“They are invested in this as they will be the ones to install the Frisbee golf in the park,” Schuller said.

Schuller added there would be in-kind donations to help with the course, and that the Youth Commission hoped to work with local businesses for additional support through hole sponsorships. According to the application, if successful in receiving the grant, the city could go out to bid this coming May, with work beginning in June and completion in September.

Earlier in the meeting, the council recognized Cheney Fire Department Battalion Chief Ken Johnson for his work earning a master’s degree in the executive fire officer program from the National Fire Academy. Schuller said the degree from the four-year program was a “big deal” in that it required work and development of expertise in four areas, each of which required a final paper be written that in most cases exceeded 100 pages.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].