MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - It's time to put away those rakes and pull out your shovels. With the first big snow fall of the year just ending it's time to make sure residents get their sidewalks and driveways cleared in time.

Once the snow stops falling from the sky, residents then have 24 hours to remove the snow from the sidewalks surrounding their property.

If a resident fails to remove the sidewalks their responsible for a complaint could be filed with the Meridian Township Public Works office. Once Public Works receives a complaint about a resident's snow removal, they'll come out and investigate the property. If the resident is found in violation of the snow removal ordinance, they will be given a notice stating that they have 24 hours to get the snow removal done.

After notice from Public Works is given and the task still isn't completed, then Meridian Township will then send out a landscaping crew to take care of snow removal and the owner or resident of the home will receive a bill for the work. There's no set fee on how much residents will be charged if failure to comply with the snow removal ordinance, billing is dependent on the property and how long the snow removal takes the landscaping crew to complete.

Director of Meridian Township Public Works Derek Perry explained they try to be fair.

"Typically once we receive a complaint in a neighborhood we try to canvas the entire neighborhood to see if there's other violators so residents don't feel like they're uh just being picked on one individual. We really try to enforce the ordinance as evenly as possible," said Perry.

When clearing sidewalks, residents can not just pile the snow up at the edges of their driveways and sidewalks because they also can cause problems with walkability.

Residents are also responsible for clearing and snow mounds that accumulate. If you have a landscaping crew that does snow removal for you, Perry suggest you make sure to communicate with them before hand so you don't run into any issues in the future.