Columbia Public Works has vacancies heading into winter, Jefferson City now fully staffed
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The ABC 17 Stormtrack Weather Team is tracking a rain and snow mixture across the region as several rounds are expected through Friday morning.
Columbia Public Works Engineering and Operations Manager Richard Stone said beginning at 7 p.m. Wednesday, there will be a 12-person crew reporting for overnight work. He said impact to pavement is likely to be limited, but it's possible that spotty slick conditions might occur on bridges or any wet pavement.
In a presentation to the City Council in October, Stone said staffing shortages continue to be the biggest threat against the department to be able to fully execute its winter weather preparedness plans.
On Wednesday, he said the Street Division currently has 44 full-time employees with seven vacancies.
Columbia Public Works Spokesperson John Ogan said staffing numbers are similar to that of last winter.
"We expect to be able to provide accessible roads for the public based on current staff numbers that could always be improved," Ogan said. "But like many other agencies, we do have a shortage."
He said the department typically runs two 12-hour shifts with 24-28 snowplow drivers per shift. Ogan said if more staff is needed, the department can borrow employees from other divisions such as water and electrical.
Meanwhile, Jefferson City Public Works is fully staffed.
Operations Division Director Britt Smith said this is the first time the department has been fully staffed in about two years.
"Right now we're fully staffed and we're feeling really good about the fact that we are," Smith said. "It's been about two years since we've been fully staffed. But at the same time, some of those staff are pretty new and this is going to be their first winter, so we'll have to make sure that we're watching everybody close and make sure we get the right education and training so that they can do the job that we normally do."
He said being fully staffed makes things easier and allows the department to be able to shift employees around.
"Fatigue of the employees is a real issue," Smith said. "When we start into the snow season, like we are now, they might work a normal 8-hour shift during the day and then get called in at midnight. When we have less people, we have less opportunity to shift folks around and give folks a break. So, being fully staffed, from a managing standpoint, I feel much better about things going into winter right now."
He said Jefferson City has been monitoring the forecast closely, but as of Wednesday afternoon had not yet needed to do any sort of pretreatment or treatment to the roads this week.
Both Jefferson City and Columbia Public Works say they have enough trucks, salt and other resources for the winter.
"We start each season with 5,000 tons of salt in our salt dome, and that amount has scarcely been touched since this winter has been light so far," Ogan said. "That 5,000 tons is generally enough to get us through the winter."
When it comes to treating roads, Ogan said Columbia Public Works will always begin by treating priority roads for public safety purposes such as Broadway, Vandiver and Green Meadows. He said neighborhood roads will only be treated after four inches of snowfall and after priority roads have been cleared.
He said the public should avoid parking on the side of the road during a winter weather event to allow the department to provide a better service.
He said people can get information about which roadways are clear in Columbia by going to comosnow.com, following Columbia Missouri Public Works on Facebook or by signing up for text alerts to move vehicles off the road.
