Urbandale's Ready For The Worst of Winter

While unseasonably warm weather may mean snow days are far from most resident’s minds, the issue was a hot topic at Tuesday night’s Urbandale City Council meeting.

The city council approved the amended 2011-2012 snow and ice policy during the meeting. David McKay, the director of engineering and public works for the city, said his crews are ready to roll as soon as the flakes start falling in Urbandale.

“We expect it to go smoothly,” McKay said. “I’m lucky to have the staff I have.”

Urbandale made several changes to their snow operations last year, and McKay said that this year staff members are still getting adjusted to the new changes, and he expects now that staffers are more familiar with their routes, the trucks, and their assignments that things will be even better this year.

“Last year we made changes as we went along, we were flying by the seat of our pants,” McKay said.

Last year’s changes included a switch to split shifts, which the department used during two of the largest storms of the season last year. A.J. Johnson, Urbandale’s city manager, said moving to split shifts allowed city staffers to be more effective during larger, longer snow storms. Johnson said that heavy storms in the past demonstrated that Urbandale needed to find the best way to maximize the efforts of employees to clear snow from the streets.

“You learn an awful lot about your capacity and your ability to move snow when you have 70” instead of 36” of snow,” Johnson said.

In addition to moving over to split shifts, Johnson said the city has also brought members of the parks and recreation department onboard to assist in snow removal. Due to the numerous cul de sacs within the city, snow plow drivers have trouble finding a place to put large amounts of snow. By bring in the parks and recreation department to use pickup trucks to clean cul de sacs, the city is easier able to clear areas that aren’t easily accessible for the larger trucks.

“Last year we incorporated more of a cooperative effort by utilizing other members of the city’s work force,” Johnson said. “It gives us more people who can respond in the event of an emergency.”

McKay also said that the city would be expanding its deicing program this winter as well. Deicing trucks, which are sent out before winter storms to lay down a brine solution which speeds the melting process have been using in Urbandale before, but McKay said with increased training city staffers are able use the equipment more effectively, reducing costs and increasing the coverage.

“It works very well and it’s effective,” McKay said. “We want to use enough to be effective, but not to be wasteful.”

During the meeting Bob Andeweg, Urbandale’s mayor praised McKay, saying that comments about the condition of Urbandale’s roads is often one of the first things that he hears from residents.

“I think we have a great staff, they’re dedicated, they get out there early,” Andeweg said. “They have a plan and they follow the plan.”  

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