A lack of manpower, however, has affected the department's ability to increase snow removal efforts throughout town. The priority remains to clear primary streets like Main, Second, 11th and 18th, said Williston Director of Public Works and Engineering Monte Meiers.
"And there is quite a few of those," said Meiers.
Once these streets are cleared, Meiers said snow removal equipment is taken to business and commercial routes.
"Sometimes, we can't get it all done in one night," said Meiers. "Part of that reason is that we don't have a big enough crew to work around the clock, 24 hours a day. There is only enough personnel to handle 12-hour shifts per day." As a result, Meiers has had to recruit people from the sanitation and landfill departments to assist the snow removal team. There are about 10 people helping plow, haul snow and sand streets.
As far as a street-cleaning schedule, Meiers said there is not one. Meiers said commercial and business routes are plowed and sanded the second day after snow falls, typically after hours.
He reminds business owners they are expected to push the snow from sidewalks onto streets to facilitate snow-removal efforts.
"That's what they are supposed to do," said Meiers. "Again, sometimes we can't get all of the downtown and the commercial routes done in one night, so we got to come back in the second night to do that."
Since the snow began falling in Williston, the snow removal crew has been working almost every day from about 4 a.m. to 4 p.m., Meiers said.
"We are doing some of the commercial routes from 4-7:30 a.m. when the traffic starts to really get busy," he added.
When it comes to clearing residential streets and boulevards, Meiers said it depends on the amount of snow on the ground and if the primary streets and commercial routes have been cleared.
"When we get somewhere about 6 inches of snow within the residential, we make an administrative decision to go into the residential areas," he added.
However, once the snow removal equipment is taken to residential streets, Meiers said it is difficult to do a thorough job because residents continue to park vehicles, boats and trailers on streets.
In past years, snow removal was done in accordance to the no-parking schedule signs on streets.
"We'd follow those signs to clean the streets, but it would take us up to two weeks to do that," Meiers said.
They've been trying to fit the two weeks time frame into one, but it has been difficult because it takes the crew a long time to take snow removed from sidewalks behind curbs to city lots, Meiers said.
"It takes us four times the time to haul it than it does to just plow it, as well as it is four times as costly because we have to have about six trucks, two blades, two to three loaders and a sander to do (just) that," he said.
Due to this winter's frequent snowfall, Meiers said the crew is only plowing and sanding residential streets.
"When we go into the residential, we'll plow it all. The people that have some issues with that are the people who used to have it all hauled," Meiers added.
And if more snow falls, primary streets and commercial routes take precedence over residential areas. Meiers said many cities just plow streets, which he believes can be done in 48 hours.
"We can do that, and that's we've been doing lately," he added.
This year, Public Works began using City Watch to inform citizens of specific snow plowing times and areas so people can move their vehicles from streets.
"It's an emergency notification system," said Williams County Disaster and Emergency Services Director Ed Lodwig.
City Watch works as a reverse emergency notification system, in which residents of a designated area are contacted by 911 operators of the snow removal schedule.
"It's kind of an emergency snow removal system," said Williston Police Department Chief Jim Lokken.
Lokken restated that City Watch is simply to remind residents they need to move their vehicles, trailers and boats from streets to facilitate snow-removal operations.
The general public's argument had been it is difficult to know when and where Public Works is plowing streets, Meiers said.
City Watch addresses that problem by calling residents' homes up to three times with the date and time the snow removal team is expected in the area.
All last week, Meiers utilized City Watch in the residential areas, which he said "works pretty well."
Still, many vehicles remain unmoved, which has forced local officials to think about ticketing those vehicles if the situation continues.
"People view the street as a parking lot, and it's not," said Meiers. "It's temporary parking at best."
Under ordinance, street parking is limited to 48 hours, he said.
"So, you can't leave your vehicles, trailers or boats sitting in the streets and expect them to be able to stay there all winter long," Meiers said.
Another problem with the amount of recent snow is where to put it since the city has sold many of its lots where snow used to be dumped.
"That does get to be a problem," Meiers said, adding snow may need to be hauled farther away, which further slows down the snow crew.
It also has become difficult to clean alleys because much of the equipment does not fit through.
As far as an overall cleaning method, Meiers said streets are plowed first. They go from east to west and start from the south end of town going north. The next day, the snow-removal team typically cleans the avenues from north to south.
At the same time, Meiers reminds people not to dump the snow from their private lots into the city's right-of-way.
"I know it's tough," he said, adding it's understandable when homeowners run out of room to pile the snow.
Last week's snowfall, however, further pushed back a plan to clean residential areas because Public Works needs to first clear the primary streets and commercial routes.
"Generally, we don't get lots of snow," Meiers said.
The last time Williston had an active winter was in 2004.
"But even in 2004, (snow) generally came in February and by that time you are at the end of the winter," he said. "This year is unusual because we are getting so much so early...and once you get it, it doesn't go away until spring."
"Our guys are just wearing out," Meiers added. "We'll try to come back in and remove some of the snow in the area, but it is just not realistic to take all the snow off the streets and boulevards in a city in North Dakota," Meiers added.
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