Siskiyou County says it will continue plowing Ever Memorial Road after equipment failures; replacement machine expected in weeks

Siskiyou County public works officials told the Mount Shasta City Council that repeated mechanical failures have limited snow‑clearing on Ever Memorial Road but the county intends to continue plowing and expects a replacement machine within weeks.

Tom Deeney, director of public works for Siskiyou County, told the council that “the drive for the last 2 tries, to a prototype chain gearbox that also blew up. And then we got another chain gearbox that was supposed to be more robust, and it blew up as well.” He said the county’s broker, Pappay, will buy back the problematic machine and the county plans to acquire a new machine identical to one used successfully in Scott Valley.

The Scott Valley machine, Deeney said, “has had no issues, so that's what we anticipate, hopefully, when we get it here.” He described the current work plan: clear Etna Mountain in the next few days, then move to open Ever Memorial Road back toward Castle and then Castle Lake. Deeney said the timeline depends on when the replacement arrives and estimated the job could take “another couple of weeks” once the machine is in place.

A speaker identifying themself as a county supervisor told the council the county is “plowing the road to the best of our ability” and emphasized the county’s intent not to shift responsibility to the city. The supervisor said the county must prioritize residential and commercial roads but will continue efforts on Ever Memorial Road and noted attendance at a SOAR meeting in April to discuss the issue.

During council reports a council member voiced frustration, calling the county’s explanations “excuses.” The council did not take formal action on the matter during the meeting.

Clarifying details provided in the meeting include: two successive gearbox failures on the machine assigned to Ever Memorial Road; the county broker Pappay will buy back the defective unit; the replacement will match the Scott Valley machine; the Scott Valley machine is currently working on Etna Mountain; the county intends to sequence work from Etna Mountain to Ever Memorial Road and then Castle Lake; the expected additional time to complete clearance was described as about a couple of weeks but was not fixed to a calendar date.

The discussion occurred during the public comment and council report portions of the March meeting; no ordinance, resolution, or vote resulted from this update.