MENTOR, Ohio -- With more than 500 lane miles of roadway to maintain, the city of Mentor relies on a carefully staged snow and ice removal plan designed to keep major roads passable while conserving salt during winter storms. Decisions on when and where to salt are based on forecasted snowfall, temperatures and road conditions. “Depending on how much snow we’re going to get, we either salt everything to avoid a bond on the road, then we switch to hills, curves, and intersections if we’re going to get a lot of snow,” Vernon said. Under city ordinance, a snow emergency is automatically triggered when two inches of snow accumulate on roadways, restricting on-street parking to allow plows to operate. Residents are also reminded that property owners are responsible for clearing sidewalks and that placing shoveled snow into streets is prohibited.