Snow common sense
I read with skepticism, amusement and concern the Dec. 19 article on Whitefish snow plowing procedures.
If city plow operators are working 30 hours straight, the city is violating basic employment laws, not to mention subjecting the city to tremendous liability. No operator of heavy equipment should operate beyond the 14th hour after coming on duty.
Operators of heavy equipment, working without proper rest, are a frequent cause of accidents. I hope the city council or city attorney will follow up on such assertions.
As to Whitefish’s snow plowing operations, it seems as if the city follows policy rather than common sense. But as Voltaire pointed out centuries ago, “common sense is not that common.”
Often during the holidays and weekends Whitefish is plagued with snow packed and icy roads. Although it is well known that the bulk of Whitefish winter business revolves around such periods, policy is policy, and snow packed and icy roads are the norm.
The flaw with the policy is not taking into consideration something that all of us know. If you allow 3.75 inches of pliable and movable snow to sit it will soon be compacted into icepack roads until an appropriate thaw.
We will soon be welcoming the heavy influx of tourists and family and friends to dangerous roads and intersections throughout the city. As I write this on Dec. 20, easily 80 percent of Whitefish side roads are heavily snow packed and their intersections are icy.
There are only six weeks of crucial snow plowing needs — mid December through January. After that Mother Nature will help out tremendously by shedding additional sun light to assist snow removal. Of those six weeks, there are about 12 days of Christmas that requires additional attention — mid December through the feast of the epiphany.
Governments and governmental employees, which I was one for over three decades, are for the protection and promotion of the general welfare of the people. Montana’s Constitution is emphatic, “All government of right originates with the people, is founded upon their will only and is instituted solely for the good of the whole.”
I would encourage city government take note and rather than adhere to policy, closely monitor weather forecasts; determine whether snow will be falling on the weekend and/or weekday; assess the situation on the ground and make appropriate decisions accordingly.
Such assessment needs to recognize the economic importance of the holiday season as well as weekends, to the financial well being of Whitefish, her citizens, and yes, Whitefish Public Works Department. This is the one city department which benefits the most from the collection of resort tax dollars. Perhaps there is the need to contract out a portion of the snow removal to private entities to insure our tourists and we have safe and drivable roads.
As to the assertion that Whitefish enforces snow removal rules, I don’t believe that there has been a citation and/or a prosecution of such in years. I have come to expect that such rules will seldom, if ever, be enforced. I look forward to being proven wrong.
— Tom Muri
Editor’s note: The Pilot followed up with Public Works Director John Wilson regarding his comment about plow drivers working 30 hours straight. His response follows:
“It is certainly not a regular occurrence, but given the fact we have to clear the downtown streets and parking lots late at night to avoid impacts to businesses and depending on the intensity and duration of a storm, they do work continuously for more than 24 hours several times in a typical winter, and there have been occasions where they worked about 30 hours before they went home to sleep. Maybe it was 27 hours or 31 hours, but there have been some very long shifts. That has happened on my watch as Public Works Director once during the record winter of 1996-97 and once or twice since then...
They have bathroom stops, short rest breaks and meal breaks, so I’m referring to long shifts of steady work with reasonable breaks, but no sleep.”