Tim Ryan, tryan@shawanoleader.com
A new push on enforcing quality of life issues in the city has been getting a good response from the community, according to city officials, but it is also creating a need for additional manpower.
The Shawano Department of Public Works has been dealing with complaints of noxious weeds and uncut grass in cases where property owners are not complying with warnings to address the problems themselves. But the DPW doesn’t have the staff available to act on those complaints as quickly as the city would like.
“Right now city staff is having to do it and that’s holding us up a little bit,” Alderman Bob Kurkiewicz said at a recent Common Council meeting. “By the time they get around to it, it’s not as fast as we would like to see it happen.”
Public Works Director Eddie Sheppard said the DPW is looking to contract with a list of area businesses willing to step in and take on those duties.
“Our plan is to have some pre-qualified vendors we can contact for quick action,” Sheppard said. “We’re looking for potential vendors to be on an on-call list for dealing with those issues.”
Sheppard said the city is also looking for vendors to help with snow removal this winter.
Police Chief Mark Kohl said there has been a lot of cooperation from residents and business owners who have been calling in complaints.
“We’re getting calls to check out residents, businesses and vacant lots and we get to those as soon as we can,” he said.
In addition, the department has two community service officers actively out looking for grass and weed violations.
“We affectionately call them the weed police,” Kohl said.