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Vandalia officials praise staff response after rare level 3 snow emergency; city details damage and repairs
Summary
City Manager Mister Althouse told the Vandalia City Council on Feb. 2 that city crews cleared nearly 3,000 lane miles, addressed multiple water-main breaks and kept emergency services staffed during a rare level 3 snow emergency declared Jan. 25; council members thanked public works, police and fire.
Vandalia City Manager Mister Althouse gave a detailed briefing Feb. 2 on the city’s response to a level 3 snow emergency declared Jan. 25, saying municipal crews worked around the clock to keep residents safe and restore services.
Althouse said city crews cleared “just under 3,000 total lane miles,” spread more than 178 tons of salt and used about 1,600 gallons of liquid de-icer. He listed a string of infrastructure impacts during the storm: “Altogether, there were six water main breaks during the past week,” including mains installed in the 1950s and 1940s, and multiple leaky valves along National Road. Public works reported 373.5 total hours on water-main response, including 179.5 overtime hours.
The city’s police and fire divisions also logged extra hours, Althouse said. He told council that police staffing was maintained through the storm and that the communications center dispatched 33 fire and emergency medical calls during critical periods. The fire division’s average daily calls increased ‘from six to about 14.6’ during the peak days, and staff logged significant overtime to keep two advanced-life-support medic units available.
Council members used the comments period to thank public works, parks and recreation, and public safety staff. “Thank you very much for all of your hard work,” Council Member Dugan said, echoing other members’ praise. Council Member Ford thanked neighborhood volunteers who helped neighbors clear driveways.
Althouse also noted practical steps the city took during the emergency: the city declared a snow emergency, closed city facilities for safety on Jan. 26, operated warming centers at the recreation and senior centers and participated in twice-daily Montgomery County emergency-management calls. He said Hyper-Reach messages were sent to nearly 7,500 phones to alert residents.
The report closed with personnel notes and condolences: Althouse congratulated staff receiving recognition, including employees named as division employees of the year, and extended condolences to the family of a former school administrator.
Council did not take separate action on the storm update; the briefing served as informational and as acknowledgement of staff efforts.
