Each year Parking and Transportation Services Director Jim Joy budgets $25,000 for snow removal. Typically, the department uses about $5,000 in any given year.
But when MU received roughly 20 inches of snow in 2006, snow removal cost about $102,000, and, in 2011, the department expects the cost of clean up efforts to reach $250,000.
“There was the first bad snow where we spent about $125,000,” Joy said. “Then the last storm started. I’m no weatherman, but I can tell you it was worst than the first, so I added another $125,000 to the account. And we’re expecting another snow.”
It will be a few weeks before Joy will know whether the additional funds are enough.
“I budget $500,000 each year for summer paving, which makes major improvements to the roads,” Joy said. “I can take money out of that account, and if there’s too much snow, summer paving might not happen.”
Campus Facilities and other departments on campus have snow removal plans in place whenever a storm hits.
“All of the departments responsible for snow removal (Campus Facilities, Student Services, MU Police, MU Hospital & Clinics, and Intercollegiate Athletics) meet each fall to update the manual and discuss plans that go into place once a storm hits,” Campus Facilities spokeswoman Karlan Seville said in an e-mail. “It’s very detailed as to which department does what and includes maps, pieces of equipment available for snow removal, number of staff available, etc.”
Residential Life, the Athletics Department, MU Health Care and campus buildings with classrooms are responsible for clearing the stairs and sidewalks that lead to their doors. Campus Facilities is responsible for taking care of the streets, sidewalks and steps that don’t lead to classes, loading docks, service drives and parking lots.
“They did an excellent job of clearing the campus,” Seville said. “Monday, they spread calcium chloride and sand. Tuesday, they began shoveling building entrances, steps and ramps and plowing sidewalks and clearing streets. Wednesday and Thursday they shoveled, plowed, cleared and moved snow.”
Parking lots and garages are the lowest priority on the list.
“Parking garages make just over 8,000 parking spots on campus,” Joy said. “They’re not the biggest piece. And it’s hard to get big machines up to the top levels.”
Joy said parking lots used to be more of an issue when they couldn’t afford to pay Campus Facilities overtime to plow the snow. Instead, all plowing would take place during a typical workday, often leaving piles of snow near cars. Now all workers receive compensation for their work.
“Campus Facilities rented 55 rooms at the Hampton Inn so employees could rest, sleep when they were not working,” Seville said. “They were able to eat at Campus Dining Services with their employee ID, and Campus Facilities will be charged for those meals. They were paid time-and-a-half for all hours worked.”
Beginning last Monday night, 175 workers stayed on campus to clear snow.
Joy said the task was made harder than usual because of how quickly the snow was falling and that the snow had to be hauled off to another location, which is a rare occurrence. But, because campus was closed, it made the clean up efforts run smoothly.