Advertisement

It is that time of year again when the City will ticket vehicles for overnight parking on any city street. Section 11-51 of the City of Bad Axe Code of Ordinances states; "No person, firm, co-partnership, association or corporation shall hereafter park any automobile, truck, trailer or other vehicle, object or obstruction upon any part of the traveled portion of any street or alley within the City, or leave or permit the same to be parked, standing upon or occupying any such portion of any street or alley from the first day of November to March 31 between the hours of 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. of any day, Eastern Standard Time, or cause the same to be done in any manner."

Although this ordinance is very specific as to when overnight parking is prohibited the police generally will not issue a ticket for overnight parking until the first of January, according to Nugent. Why wait until Jan.1to issue tickets when the Ordinance says Nov. 1? Believe it or not the police do not enjoy issuing tickets, according to Bad Axe Police Chief John Bodis. Especially on the days just before Thanksgiving and Christmas when people have guests over with no place to park besides the street. The police issue tickets when they have no other option. From Nov. 1to Jan.1, they will issue a warning to the vehicle owner and tell them to move their vehicle. Officers understand a parking ordinance is a safety tool to be tempered with common sense. Common sense says the purpose of the ordinance is to make sure there are no cars on the street to interfere with the snow removal crews when they are out plowing the streets, according to Nugent. Snow plowing is important for the safety of every motorist.

Mailbox Replacement Policy

Every year after the first heavy slushy snowfall, the City of Bad Axe invariably receives a series of angry complaints from homeowners saying; "The plow truck ran over my mail box and I want you to fix it." If you are one of these unfortunate people, you probably know what the City will or will not do. For resident that are not aware of the City's mailbox policy it reads as follows;

Any complaint received by the city regarding mailboxes damaged because of snow plowing shall be forwarded to the DPW Superintendent.

The complaint shall be recorded on a form provided by the City. The complaint form, available at City Hall shall include the date of the alleged incident along with the name, address and telephone number of the mailbox owner.

Upon receiving a written complaint the DPW Superintendent will investigate and determine the cause of the damage.

The investigation report of the DPW Superintendent will determine the following;

If the mailbox was struck by a city snowplow or by snow thrown by the plow.

If it is determined that the plow struck the mailbox the owner shall be compensated. Compensation shall not exceed $35.

If it is determined that the mailbox was damaged by snow thrown by the plow the owner shall not be compensated.

"The snow plow drivers do a great job of keeping the city streets free of snow and ice and they do their level best to avoid hitting anything including mailboxes, but accidents do happen," explains Nugent.

This year the plow trucks have struck two mailboxes. One was repaired by the Department of Public Works and the other was destroyed and the owner was paid $35 for the damages.

If a City snowplow damages a resident's mail box, please call City Hall at (989) 269-7681 and the DPW Superintendent will arrange to take the complaint.

Soper Road

Soper Road is a mess; it's coming apart and will soon become dangerous for travel. A lot of money, approximately $103,000 is needed now to repair the road between Bad Axe Road and Outer Drive, according to Nugent.

A meeting chaired by John Hunt with assistance from Huron County Road Commission Manager Neal Hentschl was held at the Huron County Road Commission on Dec. 10 to discuss the matter. The discussion centers on ways to pay for re-paving Soper Road. Several sure things came out of the meeting;

Soper Road belongs to Colfax Township.

Colfax Township cannot afford to pave the road.

Bad Axe cannot afford to pave the road.

The Huron County Road Commission cannot pave the road without funds provided to them from Colfax Township. But if all three entities work together, there may be a possibility to pave the road.

"Bad Axe is a small city trying to provide maximum service at the lowest cost to its residents. Besides providing for its residents Bad Axe has and continues to be a good neighbor to both Colfax & Verona Townships," said Nugent. He continues, "For example, between 2004 and 2006 the City spent $51,636 paving portions of four roads in Colfax Township; Barrie Road, Hatchet Drive, Wertz Drive and Westland Drive. The City also paved a portion of Nugent Road in Verona Township at a cost of $27,171."

In addition to helping pave some of its border roads, several years ago Bad Axe entered into a tax sharing agreement with Colfax Township. Under this agreement, Bad Axe pays Colfax 2.5 mills of the taxes the city collects from Wal-Mart and the Bad Axe Shopping Center. The City also has an agreement with Colfax to provide water and sewer service to their residents if requested. In Verona the City and the Township recently completed a Water Franchise Agreement under which the city, if asked, will provide water to Verona residents. "Bad Axe has been and will continue to support its neighboring townships but now is not the time," said Nugent. Some city properties front on Soper Road and an argument can be made that if Bad Axe properties front on Soper Road than Bad Axe should pay for a portion of the paving, but that is not how it works. Soper Road is in Colfax Township and Colfax levies taxes and receives state money to help maintain its roads, the same as Bad Axe. Bad Axe levies taxes and receives Act 51 money from the State of Michigan to maintain its streets. "This brings up another point, most of the properties on Soper Road that are within the city limits are tax exempt (Huron County Fair Grounds, Safe Place and the 911 Center) they do not help pay for any of the services provided to them including paving," explains Nugent. Michigan is reportedly in a recession, money is tight and Bad Axe is watching every penny. "In my opinion, Bad Axe is a good neighbor but now is not the time for Bad Axe to spend approximately $50,000 tax dollars to pave another road in Colfax Township," said Nugent.