Council raises sidewalk concern

Who is responsible for clearing sidewalks in Portland residential areas?

A majority of Portland City Council’s meeting Tuesday focused on the growing concern that pedestrians, especially school children, often have to walk in the street when sidewalks are covered with snow.

“We just don’t have the manpower or the availability for the city to do it,” Mayor John Boggs said during the meeting.

Concerns were first raised by council member Michele Brewster after she saw some children walking on the streets, presumably on their way to school.

“I just think it’s kind of bad,” Brewster said. “They’re either in the road or in the snow.”

She suggested that if the city’s street department is unable to clear a route to schools on residential sidewalks that council should pass an ordinance requiring residents to clear them.

Boggs said such an ordinance may be possible but that he’d rather it emphasize snow removal rather than tying it into punishment for non-compliance.

Council member Don Gillespie agreed with the concerns, pointing out that the city’s bridges are often left covered in snow.

“In the past, we’ve always cleaned those sidewalks on the arch bridge,” Gillespie said, adding that he would like to see the same with the Wayne Street bridge.

Overall council members and Boggs were thankful for city employees clearing Portland’s streets, which were covered with snow after more than a foot fell Monday and early Tuesday.

Council members Matt Goldsworthy, Dave Golden, Janet Powers, Mike Aker, Brewster and Gillespie, absent Kent McClung, also passed two resolutions.

The first clarifies payment for city employees during an emergency declaration like the one that occurred Tuesday. Per the resolution, city employees will be paid for a full day’s work regardless of if they work or not, and any additional hours worked are added to that base set of eight hours.

That provision does not apply to city police and fire officers as those departments already have their own policy, Portland clerk-treasurer Lori Phillips said.

The other resolution recognizes the city’s support for Portland Main Street Connect, a needed step to allow the organization to be certified by the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs.