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Donald R. Huff,
Chairman
Eugene S. Fleming, Vice Chairman
Jack Demming, Member
Michael A. Roper, Managing Director
Robert M. Tholl, Office Manager |
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Snowplowing
Otsego County receives, on the average, 150 inches of snow in a winter.
This snow compounded by the drifting that we get, makes a job out of
keeping roads open all winter. We have sixteen men assigned to snowplow
routes on county roads, plus three on I-75, two on M-32, three on sand
trucks and two night men. Generally we don't like to work the day shift
over eight to ten hours as it is more dangerous plowing at night and we
want them rested for the next morning. However, they sometimes work
seven days a week during the winter.
The main roads (I-75, M-32, Old 27, McCoy Road, etc.) are plowed first
and then the men go on their routes. Within each route the "more
main" routes are plowed first. Unfortunately, someone must be first
and someone must be last and depending on where you live, it may be late
in the day before your road is plowed. If the man on your route gets
stuck or has a breakdown it may be later than usual. After a storm we
try to open a narrow path down all roads the first day and widen them
out the second day. If another storm hits the second day we start over
and it could be several days before all the roads are widened out. We
get in a lot of trouble when widening these roads because it tends to
fill driveways. Contrary to popular opinion, we can not lift the plow at
driveways, swerve away from driveways or put all the snow across the
road from driveways. The worst case is when you are unable to plow or
snow blow you're own drive and our truck fills it just after your plow
man has left. You may even have more of a problem than your neighbor
depending on how the snow drifts by your driveway.
I don't know how our drivers are able to plow so close to mailboxes day
after day and rarely hit one. If we do hit one we will replace it with a
common mailbox, not a fancy one. If the snow coming off the plow knocks
your mailbox off you are liable for that. Please do not put your garbage
on the shoulder of the road in the winter, we probably will hit it and
you will have a mess. We cannot plow any private roads or driveways. The
law does allow road commissions in the Upper Peninsula to plow drives
but not here.
We do not necessarily plow all County roads. Some are too narrow, too
steep or don't have a place to turn around. The school buses pretty much
will only go on plowed county roads so check with us before you buy or
build a house if you are not sure. We also don't plow roads that no one
lives on, that wastes money.
County trucks when working on the road are exempt from the motor vehicle
code. This allows them to back up in the roads, plow intersections,
drive on the shoulder, etc. When our trucks are loaded full of snow it
is sometimes hard for them to see a little car. For this reason, you
should try to stay clear of County trucks as they may not do what you
expect. Also, our trucks are not capable of plowing at 70 MPH as we are
sometimes accused, more like 35 - 40 MPH. With all the snow flying it
appears the truck is going faster. It is important for them to go
relatively fast to get the snow thrown back far enough so a high bank
doesn't form. We have to push back high banks with a grader and wing or
a snowblower and that is real time consuming.
One last thing, if you have an emergency and need to get plowed out in a
hurry, call the Sheriff's Department or the State Police. They will get
in contact with us and get you out.
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