Though some businesses were able to dig out pathways themselves, a majority of the snow continues to block access uninterrupted for several blocks. One owner who is particularly irked by the lack of action from the city to address the issue is Derwin Van Dyke, who operates Ruelle Barber Services in The Fair Building on Main Street.

“The people can’t get in here. I’ve got an older clientele. You try a walker or a cane or whatever, they’ve got to walk up the damn street to get to an intersection to get on the sidewalk. Snow removal downtown has been awful for 20 years,” Van Dyke said. “Just like when we had that 24 inches, they weren’t going to move the snow. That’s like Dakota Square saying, ‘Hey we’re open, but we’re not going to move the snow.’ What’s the damn difference? It’s been something else. You could probably get 20 calls on this. They don’t get it.”

Minot Downtown Business & Professional Association President Chad Wright said the issue with the snow piles downtown has been an ongoing concern. However, Wright said his outlook was more positive, saying that after making an entreaty at a city council meeting last fall, he felt the city was taking steps in the right direction. A town hall meeting was held in November which Wright said led to further productive discussions with City Manager Harold Stewart.

“We did have a town hall meeting at city hall probably a few months ago, and at that meeting Harold said they were working on getting more operators and equipment and discussed that he and his team would be taking a new approach to snow removal downtown this year,” Wright said. “We were kind of eager to see what the snowfall would be like this year. Up until now it’s been pretty light. We haven’t had a big huge snowstorm this year or anything like that. I was downtown yesterday, and there’s snow around. But there’s snow all around the entire city.”

Charles Crane/MDN The accumulated snow from street plowing efforts after the recent snowfall remains piled up between the street and the sidewalk in front of the Fair Building in downtown Minot on Tuesday.

Wright said the takeaway from the conversations with Stewart was there would be a learning process for his team, who would be studying the nuances of snowfall and seeking additional operators and equipment, but that a definite strategic plan going forward was an ongoing process.

Wright commended the city council and administration for communicating with him about when the downtown streets were being plowed during the snow events this season, which enabled him to give his members and downtown business owners a chance to move their vehicles in a timely manner.

“He said each year is probably going to be different and each storm is going to be different. When I was downtown yesterday, I saw the snow, but it’s going to be in the 30s and 40s in the next day or two so I don’t see it lasting for long. If we get dumped with six feet of snow, I think all bets are off. There was a time a few years ago where the whole city was crippled. There’s just certain snow events where there’s very little you can do about it,” Wright said.

Stewart said that communication with business owners downtown was the best remedy to address the issue at this time, as his team’s efforts to study and prepare new plans has been hampered by the relatively minimal weather events this winter.

“We’ve had a pretty mild winter so we haven’t had a chance to test or practice anything this year. One thing we talked about was better communication with downtown businesses and partners to let them know when we will remove snow piles,” Stewart said. “The council approved in this budget to add some light equipment and heavy equipment operators, which gives us more resources for removing snow from downtown and out of alleys.”

Wright indicated that the lack of a concrete plan at this juncture isn’t a major concern, as it is gratifying enough to be heard by the city. Wright is hopeful Stewart and his team will follow through on their promises to think outside the box and develop a new approach to snow removal downtown.

“That’s all we’ve been asking for. We just want somebody to pay attention to the snow down here, to realize that it is an issue, and get some people together and get some ideas,” Wright said. “That is all we’re asking for, for now. Recognizing that there’s a problem and looking at it in a different lens. It takes time.”

Van Dyke didn’t share Wright’s optimism, saying “Checking into it? They’ve been doing that for years. It’s pathetic, and nothing gets done. ‘Yeah we’ll look into it.’ That’s all they ever say. Would you like to crawl over those snowbanks? How’d you like to have a cane?”

Stewart said his team is following through on the city’s current snow removal plan to address main access and emergency routes and would be reaching out to downtown businesses soon to make sure the path is clear for his teams to load up and remove the downtown snow and transport it to North Hill. Stewart said there isn’t a more feasible location to dump the downtown snow closer to the area, as there are concerns over flood control and runoff when the snow melts.

“The challenge is that there is limited space downtown. Even temporarily, the snow needs to go somewhere. There’s nowhere convenient to do that downtown,” Stewart said. “That’s an expensive endeavor by the time you factor in the personnel, the equipment, the gasoline for hauling it up and the hill and dumping it back and forth. That’s not cheap labor.”