After the snow-filled skies cleared Thursday morning, some residents of Cole County and Mid-Missouri looked outside and saw a damaged mailbox in addition to the plowed snow.
Cole County Public Works Director Eric Landwehr said Friday the department received several calls from across the county about damaged mailboxes. He said it's the county's policy to investigate every call it receives to find out whether a mailbox was actually hit by a snowplow or if the snow being pushed inflicted the damage.
If the snow was the culprit, Landwehr said, repairing the damage falls to the property owners. If it's found that a snowplow actually touched a mailbox, the county takes responsibility and will handle the repairs, Landwehr said.
"That's a little bit of a gray area because you get into these really, really heavy snows like we had yesterday (Thursday). There can be situations where we feel maybe the driver was going a little too fast and threw that snow so hard that it damaged the mailbox," Landwehr said. "So we'll look at every single one and make a determination as to whether the county will fix it or if it's the property owner's responsibility."
Some of the complaints the county received came from Route W in Wardsville. Landwehr said these complaints, along with any others from state roads such as Route 54, Route 179, Route 50, Route 63 and other lettered routes are the Missouri Department of Transportation's (MoDOT) responsibility.
Adam Pulley, the communications manager for MoDOT's Central District, said MoDOT received around 24 calls statewide about mailbox damage following the snowfall.
The winter event was mostly isolated, Pulley said, so those calls came from the southern Mid-Missouri area.
Pulley said any residents whose mailboxes were damaged during road clearing can either call MoDOT or use its website to file a complaint. Then, local maintenance crews will be dispatched once the weather clears up to repair the damage.
"It happens when we're out plowing. Just the snow and sometimes the size of the plow, it's one of those things that can happen during snowplow operations," Pulley said.
Pulley confirmed the state organization received a few complaints from Route W in Wardsville.
"Our crews are aware of those, and as soon as all the snow is gone and we're able to get out there and make those repairs, we'll be heading out there to take care of that," Pulley said.