Page 13 - May-June 2021 Vol 39 No 1
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GERMANTOWN those overnight temperatures at 0 or 1 knowing the conditions and the hours
Over in Shelby County, Germantown degree. The city’s water system did not spent in service to our community.”
experience any problems, but there were COLLIERVILLE
was in for a rough patch as well. Bo hundreds of private water system freeze-
Mills, Public Works Director, said his ups and ruptures. Water crews were In another part of Shelby County,
crews “checked out our chainsaws, (busy) assisting residents with private Collierville was periodically
four-in-one bucketed loaders and our water shutoffs at the meter.” experiencing “near whiteout conditions,
knuckleboom loader, anticipating tree during the heaviest periods of snowfall,”
damage” because the first round of the He said his crews not only performed according to John Fox, Collierville’s
bad weather was supposed to begin their assigned duties, but also stepped Public Works Manager. He said since
with ice storms. “We talked through forward to help the public in ways that Collierville only has two snowplows and
personnel assignments and overtime weren’t in their job descriptions, such as three spreaders, “we ran shifts to keep
expectations. Thinking ahead to the hopping out and pushing private vehicles our plows and salt spreaders running
forecasted snow event two and (again) out of traffic jams to get them out of the through the nights (that) we received
four days later, we installed our spreaders way. heavy snow volumes.”
and our one snowplow,” he said.
“That impressed me. Time after time, In order to staff the shifts within those
Sure enough, “Round One (was) the guys helped stranded motorists up hours, he said “many of our personnel
the freezing rain event, resulting in a hill or over a deep snow pile,” he said. that lived in town offered up rooms to
numerous tree limbs down,” Mills said. “We also did a tremendous job keeping our personnel that lived outside of town,
“Pine trees suffered the most; however our regional hospital’s emergency room to make it easier getting to and from our
brush (located) close to the edge of the access clear, as well as our city-sponsored shop.” He cited his crews’ dedication to
roadway was weighed down with ice, Coronavirus vaccination site.” “doing their best with limited resources,
causing it to lean onto the roadways, to address one of the most significant
obstructing travel lanes. Round Two Private businesses, an alderman, winter storms we have experienced in
manifested as a sleet and snow event, her husband and local restaurant The over fifty years.”
piling up about six inches on very cold Commissary, rallied to feed the hard-
ground. There was no melting. Then working Public Works crews sausage and “Through the storm, the challenge for
Round Three, two days later, brought five biscuits for breakfast, then also delivered our department was dealing with the
more inches of powdery snow.” free BBQ plate lunches. Through it all, incredibly heavy snow volumes. Typically,
Mills said his team “made it through in West Tennessee we have ice storms
Mills said temperatures stayed below the week’s unusual storm without any and are very familiar with response to ice,
freezing for six days, “with a couple of injuries or wrecks. That’s amazing, but we rarely ever see more than three
inches of snow during any winter I’ve
worked here at Public Works.
“At twelve inches, this was far beyond
what anyone had ever seen in our
location since 1968, when our area
had approximately seventeen inches of
snow. Throughout the storm, we focused
heavily on our snowplows and other
equipment for removing snow volumes
as quickly as possible. With only two
plows, it was critical we stayed ahead of
the two heavy snow events during the
week,” Fox said.
As the snow subsided following the
two primary snow events, his crews
then focused on getting all major streets
passable, then moving on to the smaller
streets.
The connecting thread running
through this entire story? All three
Public Works chiefs lauded their cities’
hardworking crews for their loyalty and
dedication to providing regular services,
as well as emergency assistance in
extreme circumstances. Fox summed it
up when he said “we really do have some
of the best employees you could ever ask
for in the Public Works field.”
View online at tnpublicworks.com 13
