Bob Macek is frustrated by a $49 bill from the city for sand spread on his sidewalk. (Globe Gazette photo by Sarah Aronsen)
“Those Shylocks at City Hall extracted a pound of flesh from me,” he said Friday, “and I want it back.”
Macek, 82, a retired Mason City teacher who is legally blind, said he worked hard last month to get ice off his driveway and sidewalk.
It took him several days and a total of about 30 hours, said Macek, who lives at 1123 N. Virginia Ave.
“I measured my progress each day on how many cement blocks of sidewalk I got done. I had the whole thing cleared by Dec. 30.
“Nobody came along and said ‘Thank you’ or ‘How you doin?’ but I got a great deal of satisfaction from a job well done,” he said.
He was feeling pretty good about it until Jan. 7 when he received a bill from the city for $49 for snow and ice removal.
The city had apparently spread sand on his ice-covered sidewalk before he had cleared it off.
“They made a liar out of (Mayor) Roger Bang,” said Macek. “Roger Bang said the city would be flexible and reasonable and for people not to worry about it.
“I did as much as I could every day for as long as I could.”
Macek said he has talked with City Administrator Brent Trout and with Councilmen Scott Tornquist, Jeff Marsters and Max Weaver about his situation.
“Forty-nine dollars is a lot of money to someone on a fixed income,” he said.
Macek said Trout told him the city has a procedure and that if they made an exception for one person, they’d have to do it for everybody.
“All the city did was put some sand down, and they charged me $49 for it,” said Macek.
“I told the council people the procedure should be to warn people first. I want the ordinance changed so that people have fair warning.”
Trout was not available for comment Friday. But Macek’s complaint was referred to Pat Otto, neighborhood specialist.
Otto said snow and ice complaints are handled differently than summertime complaints about lawns needing mowing and similar things.
“We don’t send a letter about snow and ice because it’s a safety issue. When we get a complaint, it needs to be taken care of immediately,” she said.
Otto said the ice storm occurred on Dec. 1. “I was told the city would postpone taking complaints for a week. The first time we did any sidewalk cleanups was Dec. 13. That’s two weeks after the storm,” she said.
She said she doesn’t know anything about anyone’s personal circumstances when someone calls and complains about their property.
“Our contractor goes out and takes before-and-after pictures when they do someone’s sidewalk so it shows what they did,” said Otto.
“We’re not trying to be punitive — but now it is a month and a week after the storm.”
Marsters said city photographs taken of Macek’s walks on Dec. 21 show that they were still ice-covered 21 days after the ice storm.
“I know this is a certainly difficult situation,” said Marsters. “However, it is and has always been the responsibility of the property owner to clear or have sidewalks cleared. How do we make different rules or exceptions for some?
“And, the city does not look for violations; they only respond to complaints,” Marsters said.
“This whole thing has soured me on the city administration,” Macek said. “If someone was thinking of moving to Mason City and asked me about it, I’m not sure what I’d tell them.”
ZZTOPDAMAN wrote on Jan 15, 2008 2:03 PM: