‘This one hammered down’: City staff and residents dig Oxford out after snowstorm
More than two dozen city staff assisted in Oxford's snow removal efforts in the wake of Winter Storm Blair, which dropped more than half a foot of snow in town.
Winter Storm Blair buried Butler County in snow Jan. 5-6, with the National Weather Service’s Wilmington Office reporting 9.5 inches of snow in College Corner and 8.5 inches in Hamilton.
While piles of snow mean snowmen, sledding and days off for some — the Talawanda School District canceled classes Monday and Tuesday — those piles also need to be cleared.
For Oxford’s service department, the response to this week’s winter storm involved 26 staff members working around the clock to clear 70 center-line miles of roadways. Service Director Mike Dreisbach says that could amount to 300-4oo lane miles that needed clearing, in addition to the city-managed parking lots and sidewalks throughout town.
“Our employees are a tremendously professional group, dedicated, and they work long and hard and difficult hours to get their jobs done,” Dreisbach said. “It’s greatly appreciated.”
Dreisbach said his department hasn’t handled a storm like this in more than a decade. The city has eight main snow plows that are set up to salt the roads, plus five additional snow plows if needed. If a snowstorm only leads to 1-2 inches of snow, treating the roads with a salt brine in advance is usually enough to keep them clear.
Streets can be treated with salt mixtures up to 72 hours in advance of a weather event if there isn’t rain. For Winter Storm Blair, Dreisbach said his staff was out salting the roads on Jan. 2 and 3 in preparation for the storm’s arrival Jan. 5.
Every storm is different, but in major weather events like this, Dreisbach said staff generally works around the clock to clear the roads. Some staff members may not be able to get home if they live outside Oxford, so Dreisbach said the city will set up hotel rooms so everyone has a chance to sleep.
Individuals and companies also step in to help clear snow in places the city doesn’t cover like sidewalks and driveways. Austin Fry advertised his snow-clearing services on Facebook and spent Monday and Tuesday shoveling out privately maintained areas for people throughout town.
“We haven’t been getting much snow the past few years, but this one definitely hammered down,” Fry said. “... Most people wouldn’t have been able to leave their driveway if we wouldn’t have came through and cleared it out.”
Fry said the people he’s worked for have been grateful for the help, including one lady who made him a bowl of chili as thanks. As he drove around Monday, Fry said the road conditions weren’t the best, but the city had everything he saw mostly cleared out by Tuesday.
The snow from Winter Storm Blair covered Oxford. City staff and residents spent days clearing the snow from roads, driveways and sidewalks. Photos by Sean Scott
Multiple members of City Council thanked staff for their snow response during a Jan. 7 meeting, though not everyone was satisfied. Erik Gross, an Oxford resident who lives on Withrow Street, said his wife’s car was parked in an alley on Monday. If they hadn’t gone to Ace Hardware to buy shovels and clear a path themselves, Gross said she wouldn’t have been able to get to work on Tuesday.
When Gross contacted the municipal building to voice his concerns about the delay in plowing secondary streets and alleys, he says a staff member told him to “run for city council” if he wasn’t satisfied.
“The city’s response was, I think, a little lackluster and a little bit disappointing,” Gross said. “This is, in my opinion, what the streets division and certainly city management should be doing, and so I found that kind of frustrating.”
Gross previously lived in a small town south of Cleveland with roughly 400 residents. There, he said, the roads seemed better prepped and plowed than his impression of Oxford this year. Gross said he worried about safety if he and his wife had had an emergency before the roads were plowed, and he suggested that the city should do more prep work in advance of weather emergencies.
Dreisbach said the service department handles complaints in most weather emergencies. His staff starts with the highest-traffic roads first, so it takes longer to get to some residential streets in town.
“There’s always going to be someone not satisfied with our service,” Dreisbach said. “We strive to make the highest volume, most dangerous streets as safe as possible to serve as many people as possible … We’re gonna be on primary roads, state routes, severe roads and bridges before some secondary streets.”
Oxford’s snow response benefited this week from a lack of students in town. If a major snowstorm hits while Miami University is in session, Dreisbach said it’s harder to clear vehicles off the major snow routes.
While Oxford city staff handle public roads and city-owned sidewalks and parking lots, business owners and residents are responsible for their own sidewalks and driveways. Oxford’s ordinance on sidewalk condition states that “no owner or occupant of abutting lands shall fail to keep the sidewalks, curbs or gutters in repair and free from snow, ice or any nuisance.” Violating the ordinance constitutes a minor misdemeanor. Owners and managers in charge of properties with four or more units are responsible for clearing snow and ice from parking areas and driveways.
The Oxford Police Department has not issued a citation for sidewalk condition in snow events in the past five years. Dreisbach said not everyone in town upholds their responsibility to keep the sidewalks clear and safe, but it may be part of a larger issue.
“It’s disappointing, not only with snowfall, but with trash and many other items,” Dreisbach said. “It’s disappointing when property owners do not take care of their property.”
