If you don't salt and clear your sidewalks, it could cost you

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) - Between the snow and ice it is slick across northeast Wisconsin. But not just on the roads. Sidewalks and parking lots are also icy.

It was slow going Tuesday for Trish Mikulsky.

"In sleet, in snow," she explained. "We deliver in anything but sometimes it gets a little treacherous."

The Green Bay letter carrier took  her route one step at a time as melting snow and rain are making for a slick delivery day.

"They're all ice," she said. "They were slush yesterday, but they all froze up. They have to be salted, salted or sand."

And that's a resident's responsibility.  According to a Green Bay city ordinance, property owners or renters have 24 hours to clear ice and snow from sidewalks after it's fallen, or it could cost them.

"Otherwise we act off of complaint and then we will go clear that sidewalk and salt it," said Tim Gates, a supervisor with the Street Department. "They will be billed accordingly to how much time we spend on their property."

And they can act without warning. Gates said complaints are piling up. They've received more than 100 so far this season.

"It's an ongoing issue," he said. "We deal with it every day of the week in the winter."

Mikulsky has already contacted public works about certain stretches.

"It's about safety," she added. "It's all about safety."

Several communities across northeast Wisconsin have similar sidewalk-clearing ordinances in place.