Ortonville- With more than two months of winter remaining, the weather seems unlikely to change much soon, but how it is handled may.
The village council agreed during their Jan. 12 meeting to have a personnel committee review snowplowing procedures after a petition was filed by local business owners requesting a change.

‘A solution will become apparent,? said Village Council President Ken Quisenberry, who is a member of the committee, along with councilmembers Kay Green and Melanie Nivelt. ‘We’ll try new things.?
Quisenberry did not give specifics on what may be tried to alleviate plowing procedures that dump snow on the sidewalks and curbs, creating snowbanks that block access to businesses and leave cars partially parked in lanes of traffic.
During Monday’s meeting, Village Manager Ed Coy pointed out it has been an exceptionally snowy winter, and councilmembers agreed.
But while the frequency of snow events poses a large problem, Department of Public Works Employee Bill Prince says it isn’t the only problem.He cited issues with the 1989 Chevy 5-yard dump truck used to plow snow, saying, ‘The truck is worn out, but there isn’t enough money to replace it. It’s been in multiple times per year for repair and gets three miles to the gallon.?
Quisenberry said Monday’s meeting was the first he had heard of a problem with the truck, but the village would not be looking at replacing it.
Prince also noted that the DPW has one less employee this winter after the council approved reducing the DPW to two employees. He also blamed his fellow employee, Kevin Booms, for some of the snowplowing problem.
‘I clear and Kevin comes back and piles it back up,? Prince said. ‘He needs to slow down.?
Booms wasn’t present at the meeting.
Quisenberry asked that residents and business owners be patient.
‘It’s a matter of determining how to fix the problem,? he said. ‘We’ll implement a plan and see if it’s better or worse.?