Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Works Snow topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Ferndale DPW outlines snow-emergency thresholds, staffing and cost trade-offs
Summary
City Public Works director presented Ferndale’s snow-emergency definition, route priorities, staff and equipment capacity, and estimated costs — concluding recent response met the city’s procedures; no policy change was proposed.
The Ferndale Department of Public Works on Feb. 24 presented how the city decides when to declare a snow emergency and how crews prioritize routes, equipment and salt use.
DPW Director Tim (presenting) told the City Council that the city uses three principal tests when considering a snow emergency: roughly 4 inches or more of accumulation, whether local streets will be impassable, and whether conditions will worsen if crews do not intercede. He said forecasts, local observations and coordination with police, fire and neighboring DPW directors inform decisions and that forecasts sometimes change, leading to unpredictable outcomes.
The presentation outlined Ferndale’s four-tier prioritization: major roads (priority 1, including MDOT routes such as Woodward Avenue and Eight Mile), emergency/connector and school routes (priority 2), sidewalks/crosswalks/bike lanes/park paths (priority 3) and residential local streets (priority 4). The DPW maps cited an Act 51 map for the major routes and reported about 95 lane miles of priority 1–2 routes (roughly 30 lane miles include Woodward and Eight Mile), roughly 15 miles of connector/emergency routes, about 2 miles of school routes and approximately 104 miles of local streets.
Capacity constraints drove much of the presentation. The DPW has a staff of 27 (two supervisors and 25 operators, not including administrators), voluntary overtime only, and a fleet described as: six main salters (each roughly $250,000 with about 4% annual maintenance budgeting), two full-size plows, four smaller plows, two tractors for sidewalks, two loaders, and two skid units. The department modeled a 22-hour snow-emergency scenario that required 19 operators working long shifts.
Director Tim walked the Council through the cost trade-offs of more aggressive service levels. He presented the city’s estimated current annual service level cost at about $142,000 (based on recent years’ snowfall). Stepping up to more aggressive coverage — for example declaring multiple additional snow emergencies to plow every residential street after even small storms — would add an estimated $90,000 per year. He said doing residentials for even modest additional storms could raise costs by about $271,000 over current spending, and a return to historical, heavier snowfall would increase the extra cost further (he cited a scenario implying up to $375,000 extra in a heavier-snow year). Those totals were described as approximate and based on modeled equipment, labor and salt consumption.
Salt and environmental impacts were a central rationale for conservative, prioritized treatment. The DPW described recent improvements in calibration and salt application (a calibration chart shows pounds-per-lane-mile and brine settings by speed/temperature) and noted current salt inventory and ordering: the city ordered about 1,300 tons this year and has approximately 2,400 tons in reserve; Tim described a 10‑year ideal ordering scenario at about 1,800 tons for ~37 inches of snowfall. He also highlighted secondary costs: pavement and infrastructure damage from plowing and salt, corrosion of metal storm structures, impacts to vegetation and concerns about freshwater salinity in the Great Lakes — all factors the department weighs when setting service levels.
The presentation included a brief review of the mid-February snow event the department called a snow emergency (Feb. 12–16). Forecasts projected 4–5 inches initially; the DPW recorded roughly 3.5 inches accumulation in 24 hours and staged crews to maintain priorities 1–3, holding residentials in reserve when the subsequent 72‑hour projections did not materialize. Tim said the city maintained its priorities and “achieved the same results for a much better price.”
No formal action was taken by the Council on snow policy; several Council members thanked the DPW for the data and asked that the presentation materials be made available to the public.
Ending: The department recommended continuing the current prioritized approach given staff and equipment limits; Council members said they welcomed publication of the presentation so residents can better understand how decisions are made.
