The Twin Cities has already received more than 52 inches this winter – the fourth highest snow total ever, and spring is still a couple months away. Despite all these snowflakes, Centerville has not yet surpassed it’s snow removal budget.
“Certainly the quantity of snow we’ve gotten causes problems,” said Centerville City Administrator Mark Statz.
Each year Centerville budgets for plenty of snow just in case the flakes keep falling. The city has stopped using sand and orders 100 tons of salt a year. But Centerville has cut back on salt use.
”We’re just using salt now at intersections and in extreme cases where we need to try to get something to melt…” Statz said. “In general we’re using a lot less salt than we did probably 20, 30 years ago. But we think we have a good handle on it. We’re just using it a lot smarter now.”
When the snow does comes down, Centerville’s plows spring into action.
We have a fleet of two large ones, a one ton and then two smaller ones,” Statz said. “If it’s crisis mode we have four folks that are out there doing the plowing.”
According to Statz, the city’s goal is to keep streets clear and neighborhood residents happy.
“We certainly are striking a balance between plowing all the time so we have our streets nice and clear and realizing that every time we plow a resident has to come out and shovel the end of their driveway,” Statz said. “We don’t want to do that three or four times a day so at the same time we want to keep our streets as clear as we can.”
Another challenge for Centerville is ice.
”We had a couple storms here where we had rain turn into snow,” Statz said. “That of course is the worst case scenario. Because you get a layer of ice underneath that snow. You clear the snow only to find a slippery road.”
These truly are the dog days of winter and Statz says people need to be patient with snow plow operators and give them as much space as possible.
“One of the things that was an eye-opener for me was to take a ride along on a snow plow,” Statz said. “If you’ve ever done that you’ll have a much different appreciation for how difficult snow plowing is. A lot of times you’re plowing in the dark and you can’t see what is directly in front of you because the plow is so large and you’re up on top of that truck.”
