A SPECIAL MEETING
of the Board of Chippewa County Road Commissioners was duly held in their
offices located at 3949 S. Mackinac Trail, Sault Ste. Marie,
The meeting was called to order
at
PRESENT: Commissioners Carr, Holt and MacDonald,
Manager Heckman, Office Mgr. Decker, Clerk McDowell, Foreman Erickson and Union
President Hopper.
PURPOSE: To discuss winter operation procedures for
2007/2008 winter season.
After a brief period of
introductions from all in attendance Manager Heckman opened the meeting.
He indicated normal day shift
hours are from
We will have 5 employees on
state night patrol, 1 located out of Brimley, 1 out of Eckerman,
2 out of Sault and 1 out of Pickford.
Manager Heckman reviewed county
policy for salting and sanding. He
explained that in certain weather conditions the application of salt or
salt/sand mix can make the situation worse.
He indicated in rare circumstances we do use a straight salt on our
county roads.
Manager Heckman reviewed policy
for call outs on weekend and situations that would require our staff to stay
out or begin work prior to normal work hours.
Manager Heckman indicated he
greatly appreciates the cooperation with 911 when they have emergency personnel
assess a situation before calling the road commission.
Manager Heckman stated it is
each schools responsibility to make the decision to call off school. We can not predict the weather we can only inform
them of the weather or road conditions at that present time.
Manager Heckman reviewed
personnel and phone numbers indicating the Central Area Foreman, Keith Erickson
and Eastern Area Foreman, Steve McConkey who would be
called if problems arise outside of our regular scheduled day and night shift
hours.
He indicated our night Foreman
will be Jerry Ball out of Eckerman garage.
Manager Heckman stated in the
past depending on the weather we have had county night patrol, 1 at Soo, 1 at Eckerman and 1 at
Rudyard with hours of shift to be 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., but may come in
prior to 10:00 p.m. if weather warrants.
Their primary focus to be on the heavier traveled county roads.
Manager Heckman asked if John Batchelder with MDOT review road closures.
Mr. Batchelder
indicated the only way we can officially close a state trunk line in a joint
effort between MDOT and the State Police.
He indicated that Central Dispatch also plays an important part when
trying to get a press release out to notify the general public that a state
road is being closed be it from an accident or inclement weather and where the
detours would be routed.
How detours will be handled in
regards to accidents with all agencies working together to get the situations
under control were discussed.
Mr. Batchelder
stated various options that have been discussed when working to close state
trunk lines when we have bad weather.
Commissioner Holt stated
problems that have arose in the past when using Road Commission vehicles to
stop traffic because the general public doesn’t view us as having this
authority.
Officer Tamlyn
with the Michigan State Police stated when the need arises to close a road,
which may have three or four egresses it’s impossible to cover this with
officers so the need is there to have other agencies help.
Officer Tamlyn
indicated he doesn’t advise Road Commission personnel to get confrontational
with the general public, but just inform the law enforcement agencies and not
try and stop them if they choose to ignore the road closure.
Manager Heckman indicated we
have been asked in the past to help out with the closures, but stated we don’t
have a lot of extra staff because at that time our crew is out plowing
snow. He also stated our vehicles are not granted
emergency status and so have tried to stay away from having our vehicles be
part of a road closure.
John Batchelder
indicated the state has had discussions with other agencies who might respond
when a road closure takes place.
Union President Hopper inquired
if anything has happened regarding advance billboard signing to let travelers
know of possible hazardous road conditions ahead, especially on I-75 near the
county line.
Officer Tamlyn
indicated he has written a couple of letters asking for similar signage.
John Batchelder
indicated he submit his request to him at Newberry.
Manager Heckman asked if there
were any questions.
Officer Tamlyn
indicated the best agency would be through Triple A, who confers with
individual State Police post.
There being no further business to
go before the Board it was MOVED by
Commissioner MacDonald SECONDED by
Commissioner Holt that the meeting be adjourned at
__________________________ _________________________
Christine A. McDowell Clifford H. Carr
Secretary for the Board Chairman