Agenda - Public Works Committee - 04/18/2006

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CASE #1~ SUMMARY FOR 2005-2006 SNOW REMOVAL SEASON By: Grant Riemer, Public Works Supervisor Background: This case is meant to be a brief review of the 2005-2006 snow removal season. The snow removal season consisted of 6 major plowing events and 16 minor events. Major events consist of calling in a full crew, plus part time staff. Minor events normally consist of sanding intersections, plowing/sanding main routes, drift control, etc .... Our first full scale plowing operation was on December 14, 2005. This winter we leased a motor grader to help with our snowplowing operation. This was due to the loss of our older motor grader due to mechanical failure last year. This year we also added a "sidewalk machine" with a V-plow and blower and updated our small truck fleet with 2 new pickups with plows. For the up coming year we will be adding our first tandem dump truck. This truck will have the capability to do "pre-wetting" of material which we hope to incorporate into our program in the 2007-2008 season. The use of pre-wetting should allow for a 20%-30% decrease in salt usage on trucks fitted with the equipment. The following table represents some general statistics regarding our plowing operation: 00-01 01-02 02-03 03-04 04-05 05-06 Full scale operation 11 11 3 11 4 6 Minor operations 17 29 12 14 20 16 Salt amounts 480 510 200 500 750 900 Salt/Sand amounts 1500 1350 300 1100 500 80 Complaints- total 137 87 14 64 22 40 Sod damage 37 38 1 35 3 16 Mailbox damage 10 7 1 12 4 2 Misc. 90 42 12 15 16 22 The RTC saw a minor increase in snow removal maintenance this winter. The roadways took about 2 hours to clear and the sidewalks about 30 minutes. We used our large snow blower once to clear snow away from the Cobom's and NAU areas. Sidewalk maintenance is another area that is expanding quickly. We currently plow the school walking area on the same priority as our streets, with the rest of the sidewalks done 1-2 days after the streets are cleared. Demand is increasing to accomplish system wide cleating of sidewalks at the same priority level as our streets. With the addition of our new "sidewalk machine" we are able to clear sidewalks and trails at a much quicker pace than before. Staff will be working to prioritize the sidewalk/trail system in the off season to take advantage of this new equipment. Public demand that the skating rinks be cleared the day of the storm is also increasing. With our population growing and the increased use of our park facilities this request for service wi!! continue to rise. Another area staff 3