By Jason Stuart
Ranger-Review Staff Writer
Residents who have not signed up yet for the city’s sidewalk, curb and gutter program may not be given a choice in the matter if enough of their neighbors on their block have already signed up for it.
The city has been encouraging entire blocks to band together and sign up for the program. Under the city program, property owners can sign up to have their sidewalk repaired, their curbing repaired, their gutter repaired, or all three, with the cost of the work assessed on their city taxes over the next 10 years. Under Glendive city code, sidewalk, curb and gutter maintenance and repair is, in most cases, the responsibility of abutting property owners.
The reason the city is so keen to have whole blocks — or at the least lengthy stretches of adjoining properties — enter the program is for cost efficiency.
City Director of Operations Kevin Dorwart explained to the city Streets Committee on Wednesday that it comes down to a matter of if the curb work can be done by machine or if it has to be done by hand.
Using machinery to lay down the new curb takes less time and therefore costs less. However, the machines can only effectively be used on long, linear stretches. Otherwise, if a block only has a property here and there signed up for the program, the work will have to be done by hand, raising the cost to the city and therefore to the property owners who have signed up for the program.
With that in mind, Dorwart suggested to the Street Committee members that the city council may want to consider forcing any holdouts who are creating a gap in an otherwise long stretch of property owners signed up for the program into it.
The same city code which makes sidewalks, curb and gutter the responsibility of abutting property owners gives the city the authority to force them to repair it. Typically, the city does not force residents to make those kind of repairs except in extreme cases, but the Streets Committee members appeared to agree with Dorwart’s line of thinking that in this case, the city should take a harder line.
“I’m all for it. If we’ve got to force somebody’s hand to get a better bid or better package, we need to do that,” said Councilman Rhett Coon. “I think we need to get them in as big a one-piece section as we can.”
Councilman Gerald Reichert agreed, saying that whether they joined the program voluntarily or are forced into it, property owners are going to get a much better deal on the work if they get in on the program rather than putting it off and ending up having to do it on their own.
“This is a real opportunity for them, because if they have to decide next summer to do it on their own, it’s never going to get done,” Reichert said.
Besides discussing possibly forcing some property owners into the program, Dorwart noted a couple of streets in the Sunrise subdivision the city has identified as needing work that they intend to add to the program. Sections of Washington Street and Wyoming Street which currently do not have curb and gutter will be added to the bid package, and Dorwart added that city officials are looking at other streets that were built in town over the years and never properly finished.
“If you build a new road in town today, you’re required to put in curb and gutter,” he said. “So we’re just trying to clean up some of those spots that have fell through the cracks.”
Reichert noted that in his ward alone — Ward 1 — he can easily think of lots of stretches of property where the sidewalk and curbing is in horrible condition and said that improving all the “bad concrete” around town is something that the city desperately needs and that residents should get on board with, hopefully voluntarily.
“This is a step in the right direction, so I think it’s just imperative that we encourage people to do it,” Reichert said.
The sign-up period for the sidewalk, curb and gutter program ends on Feb. 28. To sign up, contact Public Works Director Jack Rice at Glendive City Hall at 377-3318 ext. 15.
Reach Jason Stuart at rrreporter@rangerreview.com.