Title
Snow Operations Plan
Body
Summary and Background Information:
BACKGROUND
Snow is a regular and disruptive occurrence in Commerce City. Heavy snowfalls, frequently coupled with ice and high wind significantly impede the movement of residents and goods and pose a serious hazard to safety. With heavy snowfall possible at any point between early September and late May, the City needs to be prepared to respond to snow events in a way that ensures safety for residents and preserves mobility for traffic. The City’s snow operations plan outlines how the City meets these challenges in a way that provides operationally effective and fiscally responsible service.
PROCESS
The snow operations plan requires the cooperation of several divisions within the Public Works Department. Through cooperation and resource sharing, these divisions deliver a highly coordinated and efficient response. The Streets Division is responsible for maintaining the City’s road networks. Each street is assigned a priority that dictates at what point it will be treated for snow and ice. The Parks Division is responsible for maintaining all City-owned facilities, including the Civic Center, Municipal Services Center, and both recreation centers, as well as all parks and trails within the City. They are able to keep City buildings open around the clock to support emergency operations. The Fleet division supports both Parks and Streets by ensuring all vehicles and equipment are fully ready for any snow event.
This plan is maintained by the Public Works Department and updated each year based on detailed after action reports conducted after every snowstorm. This feedback allows leadership to implement continuous improvement and enhance efficiency and effectiveness each year. Responding to a snowstorm is resource-intensive; being able to deliver an around the clock response on any day requires a high degree of coordination and demands efficiency in order to responsibly steward taxp...
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