01/04/2005 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 1/4/2005 during that second shift all the wet snow turned to ice causing ruts which made for a very lumpy, bumpy ride. • By the end of the second shift on Thursday, all but four of the sections of the interior had been plowed. The third shift laborers and 11 other drivers completed the final four sections in the city. They then started back at cleaning up corners and breaking up ice and attacking the ice on the roads. A full day's worth of salting was placed down and the ice was chopped up. With rising temperatures, the ice was under control. The assault that begin at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday and stopped about 2 p.m. on Thursday was a combination of falling temperatures, rain, melting snow, all eventually turning into slush. What made it a big problem to fight this type of storm is that the snow was first of all so very heavy, second of all there was a freezing problem underneath the snow that was there, except in the areas that were pre-salted and the mains. Within 18 hours of the time the snow had stopped and 48 hours of when the snow began, all the streets in the city had been plowed to a reasonable amount of cleanness. It's important to note that until the snow stopped, it was nearly impossible to accomplish any significant improvements as it was coming down at such a heavy rate. During most of this time, all the collector streets and mains were cleared. Resources used included 8 dump trucks, the main tools for fighting this type of snow. If this had happened last year at the same time, we would have only had 6 large dump trucks which would have been a real problem. Thanks to City Council for funding those two trucks. Also used were 11 medium duty trucks that are 14 years old with 100,000+ miles. They didn't handle the snow very well at all and they do not have enough horsepower behind too large of a plow pushing too heavy of a snow. Some of them did get stuck in the snow, and the Fleet Department rescued the trucks as well as police cars and tow trucks. Nine pick-up trucks were used-some from Service, the WWTP and the Parks Department. Employees from other departments helped, including Fleet Maintenance, WWTP and Systems, Parks Department, NOMBL and Engineering inspectors. This was a rare snow storm, and it would not be prudent to size our fleet and staff to handle a storm of this magnitude. All those who worked during this storm should be commended. Also, the city receptionist, Mayor's secretary, Service Director's secretary, and Council members handled endless phone calls. As to future preparation, he and the foremen have been evaluating the methods used and discussing ideas for future improvements but they do not see a major change. Although there may have been some problems, including inexperienced drivers, the system has worked well in the past. Council members were appreciative of all the hard work that went into clearing the streets during this severe snow storm. Some Council members did receive calls from residents who felt that perhaps too much attention was given to the mains and collector streets and not enough attention to the residential streets. Due to safety concerns, it was suggested to the Service Director that perhaps each residential street could have at least one pass to allow ingress and egress of vehicles, especially emergency vehicles. Mayor Musial: 1) Over the holiday weekend, he spent considerable time with Congressman Kucinich's staff members as related to the NOMBL/RTA situation. A 3