To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
From: Dan Sailer, P.E., Public Works Assistant Director
Title
Discussion/Direction: Snow and Ice Control Policy
Body
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Executive Summary
The Snowplowing and Ice Control Policy was adopted by Town Council in November 2008. The primary goal of the policy is to provide snow and ice control services to all Town owned public streets in an effort to facilitate emergency service access and vehicular movement throughout the community. The purpose of this item is to review the major points of the current policy to understand if policy goals are still appropriate.
Plowing streets and applying ice control agents supports the Town goal of maintaining safe, functional and accessible infrastructure in a proactive manner. In the days following a snow event when freeze-thaw cycles warrant, ice abatement techniques are used to crush and plow ice as needed for safety.
The following graphic shows the general policy thresholds utilized to determine when snowplowing operations are commenced. The scale on the left is forecasted snow accumulation in inches.
>8” = Primary Streets and Secondary Streets
>4” = Primary Streets and Secondary Streets (Nov.15-Mar 15)
2 - 4” = Primary Streets (typically)
0 - 2” = No plowing (typically)
Secondary streets (Priorities 3 and 4) may or may not be plowed when snow and ice control operations are initiated for primary streets. The criteria to initiate snowplowing on secondary streets involve a determination of whether the streets will be passable for vehicles based on the existing storm event. The Department’s goal is to complete this within eight (8) hours after snowfall has ceased. Temperatures and time of year will also be considered. No more snow will be plowed than is necessary to maintain two-way traffic.
A team of more than 80 staff from the Public Works, Utilities and Parks & Recreation Departments are trained each year to respond to storm events. Approximately 17 Public Works staff will be used for a “typical” storm event. This additional staff allows for multiple shifts in the case of a blizzard or when “around-the-clock” operations are implemented.
Budget Impact
All items inclusive to snow plowing operations are included in the Public Works Department budget to maintain current levels of service (8-hours, 90% of time).
Staff Recommendation
According to the latest community survey data, the current policy is meeting the needs of the community in an efficient and cost effective manner. Public Works staff is recommending that the current policy remain in effect. This item will be reviewed with the Public Works Commission at their October meeting. The Commission’s feedback will be summarized during the staff presentation at the Town Council meeting.
Proposed Motion
This agenda item is for information and feedback purposes only.
Attachments
Staff Report
Attachment A: Snowplowing and Ice Control Policy