SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- When the snow flies, Robert Dumas keeps businesses open.  For more than five years, he and his employees have never been so much as pulled over in the city of Syracuse -- that is until this past weekend.

Late Saturday night in the midst of a snowstorm, one of his employees was servicing a privately owned business on State Street.

"A Syracuse police officer pulled him over, with little explanation he was issued two tickets, one of which was having snow on sidewalks," said Dumas. "We took pictures of those sidewalks that clearly shows there wasn't snow on it. The other was for not having a permit."

This came less than a day after Mayor Walsh announced the city would be stepping up it's efforts to plow streets and clear sidewalks.  "Most people don't even know about it. So I feel that my company was somewhat targeted," Dumas said.

He added that he has plowed those same businesses for more than half of a decade without a city permit.  "If we would've known, we would've had them."

And he's not the only one. City officials say multiple tickets were issued last weekend to unlicensed plow operators.

"Private Plow operators since 1971 have been required to complete an application and have a license to be a private plow operator in the city," said Director of City Initiatives, Greg Loh.

Dumas is already in the process of getting them for his crew. To get a one you need to fill out an application, show insurance and pay $250 dollars per truck.

As for the snow on the sidewalks, it was up to the officer's discretion.

In any case, Dumas thinks a warning would've sufficed instead of being ticketed but city officials aren't backing down. "Even though this law wasn't enforced under prior administrations, the city feels like it's important to move to enforcement quickly," said Loh.

Officials say it's the first step in improving the snow removal process.

"There are other steps that the city needs to take to continue to improve," said Loh. "The Mayor is determined to make sure that continuous improvement happens. " City officials say more than 400 tickets were also issued to those who had parked on the wrong side of the street.

As for Dumas, he hopes sharing his story gets the message out to other operators.