Lincoln family’s sprinklers damaged by plow, two years later City still hasn’t paid

You can’t see it now, but when the ground isn’t covered in snow John Eslick’s front looks like this.

Two years ago the city snow plow came through clearing the neighborhood.

Instead of just plowing snow, they plowed Eslick’s sprinklers right out of his front yard.

“Our neighbor called us and said have you seen your yard? We didn’t think much of it, we went out there and looked and we saw sprinklers and the actual tubing of the sprinklers they actually pulled it right out of the ground,” Eslick said.

Eslick filed a claim with the city, but got nowhere quick.

After getting the runaround from the city Eslick appeared a City Council meeting.

He was told it was a city subcontractor who was plowing for them, who destroyed his lawn and sprinklers and the City wouldn’t be paying up.

“It was kind of upsetting because we felt that we filed all the proper paperwork they told us to do. If they didn’t want to pay for it they should have told us right up front.”

Channel 8 Eyewitness News called the City Attorney’s office a dozen times today about the issue and never received a response.

On the City Attorney’s website it says, “They will investigate and evaluate the claim and determine whether any payment will be voluntarily made. Not all claims are honored even if the correct procedures are followed.”

To have the plumbing and sprinklers fixed would cost Eslick almost $400.

Two years later he still hasn’t fixed the lawn or his sprinklers fearing it will just happen again.

“It’s just upsetting because it’s like they don’t care about us and I know that’s a bad way to feel.”

The family still parks their car on the street corner in a snow emergency. They say they’d rather pay the parking ticket than have their lawn destroyed again.