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CHALLENGES WE FACED

Timing of events. Two of the three storms hit on holiday weekends. Some key staff members including a Street Crew Member, Street Crew Leader, Lead Foreman, and Acting City Manager were on vacation and unable to respond.

A large percentage of the crews had never dealt with storms of this magnitude. We were still trying to deal with the first storm when the second one hit.

Communication between staff members was difficult. The Nextel phone system only allowed one-on-one contact making it difficult to accurately assess everyone’s location and send crews to the highest priority areas. Without radio “chatter” the administrative group had difficulty responding to resident complaints.

Once traffic had compacted the snow on residential streets, the plows were unable to cut through the ice buildup.

Salt supplies ran low, and the 2006 Streets Maintenance Budget was virtually depleted. Salt was ordered immediately after the 1st of the year, but anticipated delivery is still 2 weeks out.

After the 1st storm, about 80% of local gas stations were out of fuel due to their inability to get tanker deliveries. In some cases, filler tubes were blocked by snow piles.