MONROE - Winter has been hard on the city in more ways than its dwindling salt supply and overtime for snow removal.
The Monroe Claims Committee dealt with four claims Tuesday night. Three claims involved the city's snow plow vehicles, and a fourth was related to frozen asphalt.
In two cases, city employees told committee members of the circumstances surrounding their accidents while snow plowing.
In one case, a city driver backing out of a driveway of a parking lot he was clearing after a snowfall, waited for a van to pass, but failed to see a small car following the van, because high piles of snow obscured his vision.
The claim totaled $946.12.
In another case, a snow plow driver noticed the glass had fallen out of the housing of a side mirror of a parked car. He assumed the force of the snow being plowed off the road when he had passed by earlier had jarred it out of its fixture.
He notified Street Department Supervisor Tom Boll, who reported the incident to the Monroe Police Department. The police notified the owner of the car.
The claim for that incident was $159.77.
In both cases, the committee agreed the city had full responsibility, and voted to recommend paying the full cost to repair or replace the damaged part.
A third claim Tuesday night was a revisiting of a claim previously voted on at February's meeting.
In that incident, a driver had pulled into the driveway of a city utility department parking lot while a city truck was clearing it of snow. The driver was backing up and did not see the car behind him.
The committee had agreed to settle on 80 percent of the claim, with the understanding the driver of the car was in a position to avoid the accident and shared some of the responsibility. The city's insurance company had offered its opinion in that regard.
The driver claimed she would have had to back out of the driveway onto a public street, which she believed was not legal.
However, the committee members did not agree, and voted to maintain the 80 percent payment.
In a fourth claim, a broken city water main caused the street's sub-base gravel to block the sanitary sewer system and force water to back up into a resident's basement.
According to Wastewater Treatment Plant Superintendent Gerald Ellefson, a broken water main would normally have leaked out through terrace drains or the street blacktop. But this winter, the blacktop was frozen "concrete solid" he said. Therefore, the water leak built up enough pressure to heave an entire intersection and pushed a man-hole frame off the sanitary sewer system. Water and gravel entered the system at a section designed to handle wastewater of only six residences. The gravel quickly blocked the section.
Water then backed up in the sanitary sewer system entered the house through an open drain. Damage to the home included replacing the lower 16.5 inches of drywall around the finished basement.
Committee members could not agree on how the city's insurance and the homeowner's insurance should handle the claim.
The claimants said they had talked with their insurance agent and were told to put their claim into the city first, and the homeowners' insurance policy would cover the remaining.
City attorney Rex Ewald was asked to research and provide an analysis on the law to determine the extent of the city's responsibility.
The committee discussed postponing its decision until more information had been collected, but the claimants said they had home repair contractors who needed to be paid.
The claim amounts to $3,743, according to committee chairman Mark Coplien. A claim for the cost of a check valve installed after the accident was disallowed.
The committee postponed a decision on the claim; it will be reviewed again at the first City Council meeting in April.
The Monroe Claims Committee dealt with four claims Tuesday night. Three claims involved the city's snow plow vehicles, and a fourth was related to frozen asphalt.
In two cases, city employees told committee members of the circumstances surrounding their accidents while snow plowing.
In one case, a city driver backing out of a driveway of a parking lot he was clearing after a snowfall, waited for a van to pass, but failed to see a small car following the van, because high piles of snow obscured his vision.
The claim totaled $946.12.
In another case, a snow plow driver noticed the glass had fallen out of the housing of a side mirror of a parked car. He assumed the force of the snow being plowed off the road when he had passed by earlier had jarred it out of its fixture.
He notified Street Department Supervisor Tom Boll, who reported the incident to the Monroe Police Department. The police notified the owner of the car.
The claim for that incident was $159.77.
In both cases, the committee agreed the city had full responsibility, and voted to recommend paying the full cost to repair or replace the damaged part.
A third claim Tuesday night was a revisiting of a claim previously voted on at February's meeting.
In that incident, a driver had pulled into the driveway of a city utility department parking lot while a city truck was clearing it of snow. The driver was backing up and did not see the car behind him.
The committee had agreed to settle on 80 percent of the claim, with the understanding the driver of the car was in a position to avoid the accident and shared some of the responsibility. The city's insurance company had offered its opinion in that regard.
The driver claimed she would have had to back out of the driveway onto a public street, which she believed was not legal.
However, the committee members did not agree, and voted to maintain the 80 percent payment.
In a fourth claim, a broken city water main caused the street's sub-base gravel to block the sanitary sewer system and force water to back up into a resident's basement.
According to Wastewater Treatment Plant Superintendent Gerald Ellefson, a broken water main would normally have leaked out through terrace drains or the street blacktop. But this winter, the blacktop was frozen "concrete solid" he said. Therefore, the water leak built up enough pressure to heave an entire intersection and pushed a man-hole frame off the sanitary sewer system. Water and gravel entered the system at a section designed to handle wastewater of only six residences. The gravel quickly blocked the section.
Water then backed up in the sanitary sewer system entered the house through an open drain. Damage to the home included replacing the lower 16.5 inches of drywall around the finished basement.
Committee members could not agree on how the city's insurance and the homeowner's insurance should handle the claim.
The claimants said they had talked with their insurance agent and were told to put their claim into the city first, and the homeowners' insurance policy would cover the remaining.
City attorney Rex Ewald was asked to research and provide an analysis on the law to determine the extent of the city's responsibility.
The committee discussed postponing its decision until more information had been collected, but the claimants said they had home repair contractors who needed to be paid.
The claim amounts to $3,743, according to committee chairman Mark Coplien. A claim for the cost of a check valve installed after the accident was disallowed.
The committee postponed a decision on the claim; it will be reviewed again at the first City Council meeting in April.