Buffalo Grove tweaking snowplow plan to address complaints
Buffalo Grove public works will try to keep a manager on duty during major snowfalls this coming winter, to keep the plows moving efficiently and not have a repeat of the complaints that poured in Jan. 31-Feb. 2.
Buffalo Grove Public Works Director Michael Reynolds added his crews will limit how often they stop plowing to help stranded drivers, which he says bogged down operations during that major storm.
While saying the snowplow plan was 93 percent successful last winter, Reynolds and Public Works took a lot of flak on social media during the three-day storm that dumped 22 inches of snow.
The complaints came mostly from residents in Highland Grove, Newtown, Fox Hill, Mill Creek and on Weidner Road and St. Mary's Road, where the plows were sometimes slow to arrive.
Reynolds said he later learned the plow drivers in those areas "got tunnel vision" and began to try to finish individual neighborhoods, cleaning curb-to-curb, before proceeding to the rest of their routes.
Having a manager or supervisor on duty during all shifts should help the department stay on track with clearing the streets, Reynolds said.
As well, during the storm plow drivers all over the village had to leave their routes at least 59 times to help police with stuck or abandoned vehicles.
"We were spending a lot of time, maybe upward of 100 hours or so, (in) police assists (and helping) stranded motorists, trying to clear intersections," Reynolds said. "It really hurt our operation in terms of getting the roads clear."
Next year, he said, plows will assist stranded motorists only to the extent it will not significantly interfere with snow and ice control operations.
"We'll still try to assist where we can," he said. "But we may not be able to provide as much assistance as maybe we have in the past."
Despite the avalanche of complaints during the storm, which Reynolds admitted were "pretty much all substantiated," he said that his study found that 93 percent of the village's streets were plowed to an acceptable level.
The plan itself proved cost effective, he said, with costs reduced by $130,000 over the previous year, and performance exceeding the blizzard of 2011.
Last season, the public works department rolled out a streamlined approach to its snow plowing operations.
It redesigned the routes so that all drivers would keep the same route. Under the old plan, supervisors would bring drivers back in and they would change trucks and go on a different route altogether.
"They are in the same truck, same route, same time, no matter when or where they're plowing," Reynolds said in December, adding that employees would be assigned to one of two shifts rather than wait for the snow without being certain when they would receive a call.
"If the snow falls on A Shift's watch, they know that they are going to be the expected group. If it falls on B Shift's watch, they know they will be the expected group," he said at the time.