Mother Nature hasn’t given New England a break the past three weeks. Between a blizzard on Jan. 29 that dumped 18 inches of snow to Cranston, followed by an ice storm the week after and concluding with nine inches of snow on Super Bowl Sunday, the city received roughly 100 phone calls concerning the city’s job with sanding/salting, plowing and removing snow from sidewalks.

Chief of Staff Anthony Moretti said during the ice storm, the police, administration and council members combined received roughly 50 calls from residents. The Jan. 29 and Feb. 13 storms saw about 30 calls each. “Cranston did a comparatively wonderful job compared to other towns,” Moretti said. “Yes it was difficult, and we understand people’s frustrations.”

Moretti mentioned that during the blizzard and ice storm, the number of accidents reported were the same as any normal weekend. He said the circumstances were historic and that the administration was concerned about all the city’s streets.

With most complaints coming from the ice storm, the city’s response was the hot topic at the City Council’s Public Works Committee meeting Feb. 17, with many questions for the administration about the salt and sand distribution. Director of Public Works Kenneth Mason explained city trucks concentrate on salting and sanding main roads, school roads and roads with hills. The storm’s extreme temperatures made salting and sanding tricky since the salt does not activate in temperatures below 15 degrees and the city doesn’t want to waste salt by putting it down and not having it activate. Mason said the sun and road activity activates the salt – which is why heavily traveled roads are usually clearer.

Councilwoman Jessica Marino, whose husband once worked as a contracted plow driver, brought up investing in products that are more conducive when temperatures dip below 15 degrees since there are places much colder than Cranston that use salt and sand tactics. According to Mason, the city has budgeted $275,000 for sand and salt, and Moretti said the ice storm alone cost $112,000.

Of Cranston’s 80 plows, only 20 have salting and sanding capabilities. Additionally, the 85 contracted vendors that the city hired only plow and do not have sanding or salting capabilities. Mason said the city has seen a shortage in vendors, saying they usually have 100 to 105 in a given year.

Another major concern council members brought up were the number of sidewalks that were not shoveled. City ordinances require residents with sidewalks adjoining their property to clear paths, yet some residences and businesses continue to disregard the ordinances. Residents not adhering to this are supposed to pay a fine up to $20 and will be charged for each additional day the sidewalk is not cleared. The fine for businesses is $250 for first offense and $500 for second and subsequent offenses. Seeing that some residents and businesses are repeated violators, council members asked the administration how the ordinance would be enforced.

Moretti said the administration met with the Chief of Police Colonel Michael Winquist, Fire Chief James Warren and Director Mason (before and after the recent storms) to address sidewalks that were not shoveled.

Moretti said the most practical approach would be to work with the school department and obtain a list of streets/sidewalks they are concerned about since students’ safety has been of particular concern.

Enforcement efforts would be concentrated in those areas as well as main roads that the police deemed to have high pedestrian traffic.

Police have developed a warning letter that points to the ordinance and asks individuals to clear their property. If owners do not clear the property, police will return and issue a fine; the city has already sent out 30 to 40 enforcement letters.

Germain and council vice-president Robert Ferri noted that while the city has issued enforcement letters, the city itself has left some of its own sidewalks from being shoveled. Ferri said a constituent complained to him about receiving a notice and cited a city-owned area that had not been cleared. Ferri and Germain wanted the city to make sure it’s clearing its own areas before fining others.

“We hear you, understand you. I think enforcement, education would be a possibility to promote sidewalk clearing,” Moretti said.