Jefferson Public Works went through a couple of early winter tests last week as they were prepared long before the winter season arrived.

Public Works Director Dave Morlan says some of the city crews were out last Thursday treating the icy road conditions in town. Morlan describes what happens during a snow event. 

“We have 15 employees in the city, in public works, and every one of those employees has a piece of machinery and every one of them is out running a route. So we have five dump trucks with snow plows, we have payloader, we have a John Deere tractor, a skid loader and about four pickups that we send out.”   

Morlan notes each employee has a specific route they run and there’s two trucks that apply sand and salt to critical areas in town, including stop and yield sign intersections, along with bridges and railroad crossings. He points out they purchased 200 tons of sand and salt and normally have 500-600 tons of material during each winter season.

As a reminder the city’s snow ordinance goes into effect whenever there is at least 0.5-inches of accumulated snow and vehicles need to be removed from all streets, alleyways and city-owned off-street parking. The ordinance remains in effect until the snow stops falling and the streets have been cleared from curb-to-curb.