MOUNT VERNON — The first decent-sized snowfall of the year has come to pass, but winter is just getting started. For Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Mavis, that means making sure the city is stocked with salt, snowplows are ready to go, and crews are on standby.
The season’s four snowfalls have accumulated 60 hours of overtime for city workers and upwards of 250 tons of salt.
“I think we’d all like to have snowfalls to fall between 8 and 4 on a weekday, but they never do,” Mavis said with a chuckle. “The first one fell on a Saturday afternoon.”
Whenever a snow system hits Mount Vernon on a weekend, it is up to the Mount Vernon Police Department to determine when the snowplow crews are needed.
“There’s always a little bit of, I think, differences between what some people think is necessary and what police think is necessary,” Mavis said. “But since they’re on the street all the time we think they have as much knowledge as anyone else.”
Once the call is made, however, Mavis said snowplow crews will try to hit the hillier streets first, especially on the east side of town.
The city is well-stocked with salt for the season. It started the year with roughly 600 tons of salt – the maximum the salt barn holds – and will continue to order salt as needed throughout the season.
“Unless we have a real severe winter, I don’t think salt will be an issue,” Mavis said. “Our equipment’s good, we have the snow blades on, we have the salt spreaders on. All that works out well.”
The city currently has nine people on the snowplow crew. With an extended snowfall, that crew will work 12-hour shifts to allow snow to be plowed 24/7. Sometimes the crew gets stretched thin if one of the drivers is not available, but the team adjusts as needed.
“Generally speaking, our people do very well. We have good equipment, we have sufficient salt supply. The issue sometimes is manpower,” Mavis explained. “The only other issue is getting them out soon enough.”
The mayor does hear criticism every year, usually when the city gets a weekend snowfall and crews don’t get out as soon as some residents think they should. The snowplow drivers were put to that test recently.
“I think our crew did well the first time,” Mavis said. “It was on a Saturday and there was some follow-up after that. But usually they do really well. The real key thing is calling them out because many of our people live outside the city. They may not know what’s going on in here.”
Mavis did caution drivers when the snowplows are clearing the roads: give them some space.
“One of the things we ask is that people not get right behind the snowplow,” Mavis said. “This is a huge vehicle with a lot of extra weight on it with the load of salt and the blades and everything.
“Don’t get right behind them and don’t try to pass in difficult situations,” Mavis advised. “Drivers have to have some realization . . . if it’s been cold and we have even a light snowfall, it’ll hit and freeze. When it freezes, it’s slippery. So before we get there people really need to say, ‘I’ll have to be more cautious.’”
