For the first time in a long time Warren County residents were treated to a light white Christmas. What that dusting means in terms of future winter weather this season, no one can say for sure.
Regardless of what meteorological gauntlets Mother Nature throws down, McMinnville and Warren County residents should rest assured that their city Public Works Department and county Highway Department are prepared to make the roadways safe for travel.
Warren County Road Superintendent Levie Glenn says he and his 15-employee department have five snowplows at their disposal equipped with salt-spreading capabilities.
According to Glenn, “The main thing is preparing ahead of time and keeping salt supplies on hand ahead of time.” To that end his department keeps about 350 tons of salt stored and ready to go, and Glenn has a confirmation number with Morton Salt in case more is needed.
Glenn and his crew were even out on Christmas Day for six or seven hours, salting the roads to make them safe for motorists.
Glenn says when inclement weather hits, he and his crew can cover the county fairly quickly due to the sophistication of the department’s equipment and due to the quality of the department’s workers, whom Glenn credits as being “good, positive employees.”
When winter weather arrives, the Highway Department takes care of the county’s most-travelled and hilliest roads first. These include Yager Road, Old Smithville Road, Faulkner Springs Road, and Crisp Springs Road, along with the factory-area roads of Industrial Drive and Old Well Road.
Glenn also says when snow or ice or sleet storms move into the area, he stays on top of the situation. “I take all the 911 calls myself personally,” he says, whether the calls come during work hours or deep in the night. From the information he gets from those calls, he then schedules drivers to specific areas of the county to salt and/ or clear roads.
McMinnville Public Works Department is primed for possible snow-clearing and road-salting this winter too. Director Frank Southard says his department has two snowplows with salt-spreaders at its command. The city’s salt comes in 80-pound bags, and according to Southard, “We use a little bit about every year.”
Southard says his department treats hilly roads and also roads near senior living facilities and ambulance/ emergency services facilities first after a snowfall or storm. Downtown areas of McMinnville are salted by hand, he says.
Southard’s department has one person on-call at all times, and Southard says, “Whenever we do get snow, everybody be patient. We’ll do what we can to get it gone.”