PLOWING: Complaint dept. is open

Where have all the snowplows gone? It’s Dec. 30 at 11:15 a.m. and we’re experiencing a consistent snow fall. Two years ago, I wrote a My Turn column in this publication complaining, yes complaining, about the lack of snow removal in Post Falls.

I met with the then Public Works Maintenance Manager and Supervisor and we had a very productive meeting. We discussed many things and he advised us the city posts snow operation updates on the city webpage, Facebook and Twitter. They even have an interactive residential snow removal map which updates in “real time” when residential snow removal is in progress.

That was good to know. So I started checking the various mediums at 7:30 Wednesday morning. The city failed to initiate or update its webpage, Facebook or Twitter accounts with any snow removal information until 11:23 a.m.

Yes, social media can be an effective way to communicate but it really only works if someone is tasked with posting the data in real time. But then again, it seems it took the snow removal operations team 3-plus hours to make the plow decision.

My husband was driving down Seltice, a Priority 1 Snow removal route, at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday and did see a city truck and tractor driving down the street but both had their plows up. Guess they didn’t have clearance yet to begin plowing. Or maybe the snow removal team were all snowbound in their homes until then. Oh well, better late than never.

GERI WILE

Post Falls