BROOKINGS – Matt Bartley, superintendent of the Brookings Street Department, explained the city’s new Snow and Ice Removal Operations Plan during a study session with the Brookings City Council Tuesday. He emphasized that adding personnel will help keep the downtown area clear.

The plan is available as an attachment to the Nov. 12 meeting agenda on the city’s website. 

This is an operational plan, “something that we really never had before,” said City Manager Paul Briseno. “Now we’ve laid it all out into a plan. This has taken Matt about a year to create, working with his employees to develop this plan, looking at best management practices from other communities.”

Now, snow removal is all based on what the storm will do, rather than waiting on people to make the decision, Briseno said. “That way, we’re more consistent with our response, as well.”

Three classifications

Bartley said there are three classifications of storms, which determine how the crews handle snow and ice.

Class 1 covers zero to 2 inches of snow, with little to no accumulation, which would be handled by city crews only, Bartley said. 

Because it tends to ice over, there’s very little plowing; it’s more de-icing, he added.

Class 2 storm is 2-6 inches and includes an Emergency Snow Route Advisory, where the public is not able to park on any Emergency Snow Routes.

“That way we can make sure that those roads are clear and open for any ambulance, fire services, police, whatever needs to get to those certain quadrants of town,” Bartley said.

“A Snow Alert can be activated into this category,” Bartley said. When the snow accumulation gets around 4 inches, snow removal activity can get more aggressive.

Contractors may be called in, but if the city crews can handle it, they will, he said.

Class 3 is the Snow Alert classification with “heavy snowfall – 6-plus inches, usually in that 24-hour range,” Bartley said.

“We don’t get a lot of these storms, but when we do get those, it’s kind of your all-hands-on-deck snowfall,” he said.

The Street Department will coordinate with the Police Department to install a parking ban.

Contractors will be out in their assigned areas, as are the city crews, Bartley said.

Ice storms are treated like Class 1 storms, with Class 1 procedures followed. City crews only are called out, with sand trucks and de-icing applications. Bartley said there’s not a lot, other than sanding, that they can do.

“These storms, though, can escalate into something that is a little bit more of an eminent danger to the public. Then, at that point, hopefully, we rely on citizens to stay home, not drive out on those roads,” Bartley said, 

Snow routes

Bartley displayed a map with streets marked in red, green and blue, according to the order in which they will be cleared.

The first streets to be cleared are emergency routes marked in red, including Medary Avenue, Third Street, and a section of First Avenue.

The major arterial and collector routes to be cleared next are marked in green and include Western Avenue, Eighth Street, Second Street South, Orchard Drive, 17th Avenue, Fifth Street South, Elm Avenue, Christine Avenue, 15th Street South (between Medary and 17th), and 20th Street South.

The third wave of streets to be cleared are marked in blue on the map, including Sixth Street, 22nd Avenue, Main Avenue, and Eighth Street South.

“Then we go into our more residential areas or the other streets, cul de sacs; then finally into alleys,” Bartley said.

He mentioned they don’t plow alleys on every snowfall. 

“We like to get to that, we say, 4-inch range, and then we make sure we hit every one of them,” Bartley said.

Parking ban

A snow alert parking ban is typically implemented when snow accumulation is around 4 inches. The type of snowfall – light and fluffy or wet and heavy – brings variables.

“One thing to keep in mind, no snow storm is alike and no snow storm is the same,” Bartley said.

A minimum four-hour notice will be given for a parking ban.

Notification will be posted on websites, social media, the Snow Line at 605-696-7669, television and radio stations, as well as the Notify Me text and email alert system. The Brookings Register shares city alerts on the newspaper’s Facebook page. 

The Notify Me alert system is “a great one,” but people do have to sign up for it, Bartley said. It sends an alert to the person’s phone right away.

Councilor Holly Tilton Byrne said it was a very underutilized system and she asked that it be promoted more, especially with university students, because a lot of people she mentions it to aren’t aware of it.

Councilor Dan Hansen said all students are automatically on the campus alert system and that includes snow bans.

Special effort is made to let students from South Dakota State University know, Bartley said. His department also advises students to park off city streets if they will be gone during school breaks.

As street superintendent, he coordinates with the acting street superintendent, the police chief and city manager to declare parking bans. Any of those people can declare a parking ban.

Council comments

Councilor Patty Bacon noted that last year, the crews were running out of places to haul the snow.

“We did have to close the city’s dump on the west side of town, just make it primarily for us to haul from downtown. And I asked every contractor to start taking everything out east,” to the Marketplace plot, Bartley said.

Councilor Nick Wendell said over the past couple of years, he’s gotten more positive than negative comments about snow removal. Concerns center around two districts: downtown and in the blocks surrounding the schools.

Bartley said he’s working with Ashley Biggar of Downtown Brookings to get the word out to downtown business owners. Store owners can shovel snow off sidewalks into the streets before the plows go by.

“That would help us, actually,” Bartley said.

He acknowledged there was confusion in the past “because we were more focused on getting the town opened up” and now there’s an effort “to make sure they don’t feel forgotten.”

Councilor Leah Brink asked why the downtown area wasn’t red, blue or green because of the commerce the stores generate.

Streets are prioritized according to services, Bartley said, using Third Street leading to the hospital as an example. Also, removing snow from the downtown area is more labor intensive because of going around the bump-outs and there’s no room for windrows, like on some other streets.

Bringing on personnel from the Parks department has “helped tremendously,” to clean up the downtown core just as effectively as the rest of town, Bartley said.

Wendell said the way the snow was piled on the side of the street opposite the schools created a problem for residents to get in and out. 

Bartley said they’ve talked to the contractors and asked them to take the snow to the snowplow locations so they can all work together better to take the burden off the residents.

Tilton Byrne asked if Bartley had other locations to haul snow when the Marketplace land is developed. Bartley said there was other city land, including just north of the Marketplace.

Councilors also recommended ways to promote programs and educate the public about topics, including clearing sidewalks of snow. 

Contact Jodelle Greiner at jgreiner@brookingsregister.com.