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1. How many units are in the City of Moscow Fleet?

We currently have in our fleet 224 units from eleven City departments plus the Moscow Volunteer Ambulance and Moscow Rural Fire departments. 

2. What types of repairs are conducted by the Fleet Division?

We have a three bay shop with two Technicians and a Shop Supervisor that service and maintain a wide variety of specialized municipal equipment including: 

• Fire, police and emergency vehicles
• Heavy duty trucks and equipment
• Mowers, and lighter duty equipment
• Smaller cars and pickups
• Standby generators

We currently equip and outfit

• Police vehicles, 
• Fire command vehicles, 
• and certain snow removal equipment.

Most non-warranted repair and maintenance work for this equipment is performed by City personnel. 

3. How is the replacement cycle for City vehicles determined?

The Fleet is tracked by Computerized Fleet Analysis (CFA) program that monitors fuel use, notifies us when needed maintenance is required, and stores vehicle maintenance records. Fleet replacement is determined using parameters specific to our fleet use, maintenance history, anticipated useful life, and other requirements. The data is reviewed and adjusted annually to maximize our usage and value.

4. Does the City Fleet send any repair work to local shops?

Fleet utilizes local resources for body repair, front end alignment, exhaust pipe replacement, major engine and transmission repairs, radiator repairs, truck and equipment tire repair and repairs that require certain specialized tools and skills.

5. What efforts does fleet make toward sustainability and fiscal responsibility?

Fleet is currently analyzing avenues to convert to more multi-use vehicles as technologies become available to assist in lowering total amount of units in our fleet.

In addition, we conduct periodic "Low Use Reviews" to check on the necessity of vehicles that do not see much use.

The Moscow EcoDriver Program was established to teach all operators of City vehicles methods for reducing fuel consumption and proper routine maintenance. We set annual goals for fuel consumption and have halted an annual increase of about 4% and actually reversed the trend. We also have Commercial Driver Training each year to help drivers understand methods of operation to save fuel and maintenance costs.

We outsource yearly safety inspections on bucket trucks, Fire Department ladder truck and ground ladders and truck mounted cranes.

6. What are the Streets Division responsibilities?

The Streets Division is responsible for the maintenance of multiple aspects of the City's infrastructure. This includes: 

• Banners
• Fiber optic network
• Flood control
• Pavement markings
• Pavement surface repair and maintenance
• Right of way vegetation trimming
• Snow removal
• Storm drain systems
• Street lights
• Street signs
• Sweeping
• Traffic control
• Traffic signals
• Utility location

7. How many employees are in the Streets Division?

There are eight full time employees in the Streets Division, including the Streets Supervisor.

8. How many lane-miles of street do we maintain?

The Streets Division maintains approximately 190 lane miles of street with about 21 lane miles being State Highway on which we assist ITD with maintenance. There are also about 10 miles of alleys maintained by the Streets Division.

9. How long does it take to plow the entire town?

Within 12 hours of the end of snowfall we try to have travel lanes cleared on every through street in the City. It takes 24 hours to finish the final push-back with the graders for a typical storm, and about 36 hours to finish all of the cul-de-sacs and dead-ends. There are many factors that influence snow removal response from quantity and type of snow to temperature and equipment failures, but these are numbers that we can achieve for the majority of the storms.

10. What are the plowing procedures (when and where do we plow and with how much snow?)

Our snow removal work typically begins before the flakes start to fall. When there is a weather event forecast we will usually begin anti-icing operations using magnesium-chloride and rock salt. Snow accumulation of two inches or more will trigger our snow removal operation. We have three road graders equipped with snow gates, seven trucks with plows (four of which have spreaders), two one-ton trucks with spreaders, and two berm removal pieces of equipment. The City is divided into four areas. Initially, the graders will go downtown and start removal there while the trucks go to their assigned areas to open routes on all of the through streets, and spread traction-enhancing de-icing materials on hills and high volume intersections. After assisting downtown with de-icing, the one-ton trucks start on their cul-de-sac routes. Berm removal begins as soon as the graders have completed the downtown work. The graders then move into the areas to finish a final push-back as needed. Streets Division policy is to try to use the snow gates on the graders to attempt to minimize the accumulation of berms across residential driveways. This is a time consuming, and difficult process with over 5,000 driveways, but we do our best. After the streets are all plowed we move in to complete the alleys if the snow accumulation is sufficient.

11. How many storm water detention ponds do we maintain?

There are 32 detention ponds maintained by the Streets Division.

12. How many miles of storm drainage pipe do we have?

The City of Moscow has 63.8 miles of storm drainage collection and conveyance pipe that is maintained by the Streets Division.

13. How many street lights do we have?

The City owns 413 street lights that the Streets Division maintains. They are primarily located along the state highway routes and downtown. Avista has 1,465 lights that they own and maintain in the residential areas.

14. Why do we trim trees and shrubs?

We are all very proud of our Tree City designation, and we work closely with our City Arborist to maintain a healthy and functional tree-scape. City ordinance requires that trees that overhang the street be no lower than twelve feet above the ground and it also requires a minimum of eight feet of clearance over sidewalks. The homeowner is responsible for the maintenance of these minimum parameters. This ordinance allows for the safe flow of traffic on our streets. This also allows us to safely sweep the streets and plow snow along the curb line. As a service to our residents we trim one quarter of the City each year after notifying and giving the residents the opportunity to conduct their own trimming if they so desire.

15. Why has the City of Moscow not paved my gravel street or alley?

The City of Moscow maintains streets with their current surfacing that the developer installed. At this time there is no plan to upgrade gravel streets or alleys to pavement. The City provides support through a Local Improvement District process for residents that would like to pursue the paving of an alley or gravel street.

16. Who is responsible for sidewalk snow removal and repair?

Property owners are responsible for the repair and maintenance of the sidewalks adjacent to their property.