After seeing an article in this week’s Champion newspaper detailing DeKalb County’s prep for another winter storm like last years, I asked City Manager Peggy Merriss what, if any, steps Decatur had taken to prepare for another potential 50 year winter weather event this year.  She was good enough to provide us with this detailed account.

As described in The Champion article, our public works staff have been participating with other municipalities, DeKalb County and the Georgia Department of Transportation to develop a better system of coordinated communications during extreme weather events. This will be most helpful in making sure that the roadways that are cleared connect to other roadways in other jurisdictions as well as coordinating the delivery of additional materials and supplies.

We are purchasing an interchangeable blade implement that can be attached to the City’s backhoe to be used as a snow “plow” to clean major thoroughfares. In addition, the blade can be used year round to scrape and maintain other surfaces, such as unpaved roads. It will cost about $4,000.

We have stocked our typical supply of materials such as sand and de-icer.

We have modified our call-in policy to require all of our sanitation collection staff who are able report to work, even if we are not collecting garbage, in order to have more available workers.

We plan on opening Ebster Recreation Center as a drop-in facility if schools are otherwise closed.

Overall, our response last year was consistent with the City’s weather response plan and if we have a similar convergence of the same conditions in the future, residents should be prepared to comfortably stay at home for 3-5 days. Ultimately, what remains as the most effective plan of attack for removing ice and snow are sunny and slightly windy, above 32° days.