Fred Stouder knows a little something about getting involved when the weather hits hard, as it is projected to do this winter.
When the Kenmore city manager worked as director of planning and community development for the city of Burlington, Iowa, it wasn’t unusual for city employees to pick up shovels and clear the city hall walkway and surrounding sidewalks.
In this La Niña year, there are cooler than normal water temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean, which means a colder and wetter winter for the Pacific Northwest — and more shoveling.
Two years ago during the area’s last big winter storm — when temperatures dipped into the low 20s and about 7-8 inches of snow dumped on the Northshore area through December — Stouder hopped in a Lake Forest Park Public Works truck with a driver and surveyed the Kenmore neighborhood scene, which features areas with hills that can turn dangerous when snow and ice are involved.
“You have to be prepared to do what you can do. (In a storm) all the rules of the game go out the window, but that doesn’t mean you don’t prepare,” Stouder said, noting that Kenmore city officials have had some “tabletop events” with personnel from Bastyr University, the Northshore Fire Department, Northshore Utility District and King County Sheriff’s Office to discuss storm emergency operation procedures.
Stouder added that the city begins preparing for winter weather in the summer by training staff and preparing equipment.
The city contracts for Public Works services with the city of Lake Forest Park, and the two cities share seven trucks for treating snow and ice conditions. Four trucks have sanders with plows, one truck has a de-icer with a plow and two trucks have plows. During a snow and ice event, maintenance crews will switch to two 12-hour shifts to ensure 24-hour coverage. The overall goal is to provide the safest driving conditions possible to the public. For more information, visit Kenmore’s Web site.
Working together with Bastyr officials is especially crucial, Stouder added.
“Let’s say the 68th Avenue bridge is down and we can’t get to the other (Bastyr) side to help,” Stouder said. “Maybe they’ve got some equipment they can use.”
Four years ago during a power outage, Bethany Bible Church on Northeast Bothell Way served as a last-minute emergency shelter for residents, but Stouder is in the process of firming up plans to make it an official shelter this winter.
BOTHELL
On a recent 65-degree Thursday, Bothell Public Works Superintendent Nik Stroup mused: “We enjoy days like this when we don’t have to think about weather issues.”
Things have changed quickly since then, as area weather has dipped 20 degrees during the day, and it’s bound to get even colder soon.
And like Kenmore’s Stouder, Stroup has been there, done that. He was a Bothell street maintenance worker during 1996’s 2-foot snow drop (which turned into a flood when the snow melted) and, of course, pitched in from his superintendent’s spot during the 2008 blast. Stroup firmly noted that he and his crew are ready for the projected wicked weather this winter.
“We treat every snow-type event as an emergency event. There’s a lot of preparedness and we ensure that we have all the necessary materials,” Stroup said of everything from anti-icing chemicals to trucks with plows to sand. “The difference from 1996 to 2008 and 2009 is that we’ve beefed up our snow and ice operations today (with anti-icing methods).”
The city of Bothell emergency preparedness plan notes that during the winter months, Bothell Public Works crews work around the clock to keep streets drivable and traffic moving by using salt and anti-icing compounds, or sand when temperatures fall too low for chemicals to work. Supervisors check weather reports and move equipment, materials and personnel where needed most. For more information, visit Bothell’s Web site and look under city services/emergency preparedness/hazards.
Workers have an arsenal of vehicles at the ready, including one 10-yard dump with a plow and sander; two five-yard dumps with plows and sanders; three service trucks with plows; one service truck with a sander; one anti-ice truck with a distributor; two backhoes; and one small tractor.
So how did the city of Bothell fair in 2008, heading into this winter?
“We saw that, we got through it, we survived it,” Stroup said. “We did pretty well. Our streets were plowed, and when you came into the city from outside of Bothell, you knew you were here.”
Stroup and his crew also ask locals to play their part, as well, this winter by driving slower: speed, acceleration, steering and braking. “Give yourself extra time to reach your destination safely,” the city’s emergency preparedness plan reads. “It’s not worth putting yourself and others in a dangerous situation just to save time.”
