Supervisor: City needs snow tools

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Workers are shown clearing snow and ice from a sidewalk in front of a Choctaw Avenue business in downtown McAlester on Thursday. This week’s snowstorms made for treacherous navigation on walkways and roads. By Kevin Harvison

February 6, 2011

By James Beaty Senior Editor The McAlester News-Capital Sun Feb 06, 2011, 12:00 PM CST

McALESTER — McAlester Public Works supervisor Timmy Don Adams says there’s a reason there’s been few “dry spots” on city streets in the wake of the winter storm that hit Tuesday — with additional snowfall on Friday.

“Why don’t we have dry spots in town?” Adams said Thursday evening. He said the reason was a lack of proper equipment — for example, the kind of trucks used by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.

“The state has trucks with snow blades on the front and salt spreaders on the back,” Adams said. That allows an ice- or snow-packed area to be bladed, immediately followed by salting it, all in one operation.

“What we’re hoping to do is get a couple of trucks like that, if the council will approve it,” Adams said, referring to McAlester’s city council.

The city, which doesn’t have such trucks, has been using heavy equipment to blade an area of ice- or snow-covered roadway. Then separate vehicles — one with a mounted seven-yard salt spreader, and another with a smaller, portable, two-yard spreader, can salt the area.

Adams said it’s possible to get tips for trucks, which will allow for the ice- and snow-related equipment to be removed during warmer months.

The City of McAlester has a lot of road to cover, and few workers with which to accomplish the task during winter weather.

“We’ve got 154 miles of streets, and a lot of people don’t realize that,” Adams said. “I’ve got just seven people to cover that with.”

Of those seven — which includes Adams and his foreman — three are qualified equipment operators, he said. The city is in the process of hiring another equipment operator, and other departments have been assisting.

Adams is well aware that when a winter storm of this magnitude hits, everyone wants the ice or snow removed from the streets where he or she lives. With resources stretched thin, there hasn’t either been the equipment or manpower available to keep the streets clear during the past week, Adams said.

Adams said his department has a backhoe and motor grader it’s been using to try and clear intersections. The water department has loaned the public works department two backhoes with operators to try to help out.

“We’ll be working on Saturday and if we have to, on Sunday,” Adams said.

During the first winter storm that hit in January, McAlester City Manager Pete Stasiak had said the city could not afford to buy snow and ice removal equipment that would be probably be used a few days a year, and remain idle the rest of the time.

During the past week, unable to clear a lot of the packed up ice and snow, city workers concentrated on clearing enough intersections for a loop around the city. The whole idea is for ambulances to be able to get to the hospital, Adams said.

“It’s not just to get people out of their neighborhoods so they can get out,” he said.

Adams is hopeful when the next city budget is prepared, it will be remembered how difficult a time city employees can have trying to clear ice- and snow-packed streets with equipment the city currently has available. He noted that in July, when budgets go into effect for the next fiscal year, there’s typically lots of sunshine, and ice and snow are often the last thing on anyone’s mind when there are also other pressing needs.

Referring to the ice and snow covering city streets over the past week, Adams said, “Everybody wants it removed, but you’ve got to have the proper equipment.”

Contact James Beaty at jbeaty@mcalesternews.com.

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