County no longer replacing mailboxes

The Lake County Engineer’s Office has stopped replacing mailboxes reportedly damaged by its snow plows, with township officials requesting that the office reconsider this change.

The new policy was announced in a Jan. 23 letter and went into effect on Feb. 1. Lake County Engineer James Gills explained that the change was implemented due to a labor shortage and reports of damage that he said were not caused by the office’s snow plow drivers.

According to Gills, the office’s old policy was that it would replace mailboxes only if it was responsible for the damage. He noted that it would receive reports for mailboxes that were not damaged by its snow plow drivers, while others who reported a broken mailbox and requested to pick up a check would not provide their addresses.

“This has all ratcheted up the last two, three years, since COVID,” he said. “We’re shorthanded down at the office, we can’t get employees, like everybody else, and we just don’t have time to mess with it and argue with them.”

“If they want their roads plowed, we don’t have time to stand for hours, both in the office and out in the field investigating and talking to them and trying to convince them,” Gills added.

Officials in Lake County’s five townships expressed concern with the policy change. The 2018 county highway map noted that all 151.79 miles of county roads run exclusively through the townships.

Lake County Township Association President and Concord Township Trustee Morgan McIntosh signed a Feb. 9 letter on behalf of the association that asked the engineer’s office to reconsider this change.

“As a practical matter, it is common for local governments to repair, replace or reimburse a resident if the damage of a mailbox was the result of being struck by a plow,” the letter said. “With the amount of county roads crossing the townships in Lake County, it is impractical and not reasonable that the townships simply absorb this cost.”

“Townships do not have the budgets of the incorporated municipalities in Lake County and therefore, this change to policy is a burden on our residents,” the letter added.

Gills sent a letter to the LCTA on Feb. 10 indicating that the office had received the letter and adding, “Our policy will stand as written until further notice.”

This change does not affect existing policies for

roads maintained by township service departments or by the Ohio Department of Transportation.

ODOT Press Secretary Matt Bruning said on Feb. 9 that crews for the state agency will determine whether or not it was responsible for reported mailbox damage. If it was, they will replace the mailbox. Damage can be reported

at transportation.ohio.gov/ damagereport.

He noted that ODOT is responsible for plowing U.S. and state routes outside of cities and villages.

ODOT District 12 Public Information Officer noted that as of Feb. 10 in Lake County, “five mailboxes have been replaced or repaired by ODOT this winter.”