County's snow removal costs top $72,000

As might have been expected, the recent winter weather was a topic of conversation among those who attended last Friday morning's regular meeting of the Union County Board of Commissioners.

The meeting was at the Union County Courthouse in Jonesboro.

Costs incurred by the Union County Highway Department for snow removal and work to attempt to clear local roads had topped $72,000 as of last Friday. The numbers were shared by county engineer Kevin Grammer.

"Financially – it was a pretty big hit," Grammer told the commissioners.

During Friday's meeting, and in a subsequent news release, county officials voiced their appreciation to Grammer and the highway department for the work which had been done following the major winter storm which struck the area Dec. 5-6.

In the news release, the commissioners praised highway department personnel "for the excellent level of service they provide during inclement weather.  With 500 miles of county roads to maintain, the highway department went above and beyond their normal duties once the bad weather recently hit."

“They do a lot of work that people aren’t even aware of,” county board of commissioners chairman Don Denny stated.

“For one thing, they keep a plow ready just in case of a 911 call to clear the way for the ambulance.”

During the recent snow and ice storms, the highway department fielded over 300 phone calls from county residents.

“Kevin’s crew worked in 15-hour shifts during the really bad times,” Denny noted.  

“We’re not a big enough county to have the manpower to have all five trucks out twenty-four hours a day but Kevin makes sure to keep his guys out at the peak times when they are the most needed and the most effective.”

While there were some complaints of roads not being cindered, Grammer explained at Friday’s meeting that cinders were spread multiple times but the afternoon slush would allow them to sink into the ice.  

After freezing overnight, it was hard to tell that anything had been done and they would be back to square one every morning.

“When you have bad weather like this, you always have people upset about the conditions of the roads,” Denny said.  

“Unfortunately, we can’t help with clearing village and city streets even when we’d like to. Our funding is only intended to clear the county-maintained roads.”

Denny encouraged concerned citizens to contact both the Union County Highway Department and their municipal leadership if they have concerns about their streets and highways.

(One community member who was present at Friday's meeting noted that he had experienced better weather during a recent trip to Chicago.)