Plows had few troubles, complaints, during storm

Posted: Feb. 8, 2011

The area finally dug out from last week's colossal blizzard, and local plow crews were a big reason why.

While often a thankless job, crews from around the area worked long hours to ensure that roads were clear for residents who needed to get out.

Overall, local municipalities reported very few complaints - only what municipal officials called the usual gripes about downed mailboxes and snow dumps at the ends of clear driveways.

But Kathleen Kretschmeir, a Hartland resident, was one who did not approve.

"This is how we used to grow up in the State of Wisconsin," the Hartland resident said. "Two feet of snow is just that."

"(The village) plowed these poor elderly people in. All the fire hydrants are plowed in," Kretschmeir, who said her children plowed her driveway out only to have it plowed back in, remarked. "The way the Village handled this snowfall is a shame. People can't back out of their driveways."

"I went down to the Village, and they said, 'Well this is unprecedented.' I said, 'No it's not. We live in the State of Wisconsin. The East Coast handled their snow better than we did.'"

Village of Hartland Public Works Director Mike Einweck said people often think that after the plow passes once that no more snow will get dumped into their driveways. But the plows start by clearing the center of the road on their first pass, and then get closer to the curbs on each subsequent pass.

"Well, unfortunately, somebody just cleared their driveway, and we come back and deposit more snow into their driveway, and they're upset about it. We're just trying to do our job, creating a safe roadway for people to pass by making it as wide as it should be. It's an unfortunate circumstance of plowing," the public works director said. "We can't go curb to curb on our first pass, especially when you have that much snow."

It was a different story for Don Lutzke of Mukwonago. In a letter to the editor, he praised his community's efforts. "In the 27 years that I have lived here, I haven't seen a more perfect job," he wrote.

Kathy Godgluck of the Town of Merton had a similar experience. "Our road was clear. I came to work (the morning of the storm) after we got the driveway cleared out, so I had no problems. "

Municipalities sometimes hear complaints about snow dumped in residents' yards as well, but the snow has to go somewhere.

"We usually have a good 15 feet on either side of the curb that we can store snow," Einweck said. "Nobody realizes that the first 15 feet of your yard is actually public property, so where we have that area to store snow, that is where we pile it up in the winter time."

The public works supervisor in the Village of Mukwonago, Thomas Brandemuehl, told a similar story about last week's storm.

"We only had a couple little complaints about putting snow in their driveways," he said.

Other than that, he said, no major glitches. "Nobody was being obnoxious when they were plowing. People weren't throwing shovels at us or anything, so that's always good. That's happened before," he laughed.

Eric Nitschke, director of public works in the Village of Sussex, said other than a few complaints about damaged mailboxes, residents had mostly positive comments for his crews.

"Our plow drivers weren't hitting the mailboxes, it is just that when you're pushing this much snow, the snow is going to damage mailboxes," Nitschke remarked. "We fielded a number of those complaints, but as is our policy, we field-inspect every single one and work with the residents if we can."

Every local government spent several days after the Groundhog's Day blizzard touching up small areas that needed more work. In downtown areas where snow storage space is limited, local governments are forced to come in later and load excess snow onto trucks to be carted off to municipal storage areas where the snow can slowly melt in one big pile.

"(This) week is going to be continuing operations for hauling that snow away to one of the village's sites," Nitschke said. "So we'll be back out with some smaller pieces of equipment."

While almost every public works department, from Sussex and Lannon to Delafield and Hartland, down to Mukwonago and Eagle, fielded some complaints, some residents were more than appreciative of the hard work done by the crews clearing and salting the roads.

"We had somebody drop off fresh-baked cookies for the staff (the day after the storm) because they were so happy with what our guys did," said Hartland's public works director.

Meanwhile, Kretschmeir said that she can get over being plowed in by municipal plows, but when she woke up to find a private contractor dumping snow in her yard after clearing a nearby property on Capitol Drive in downtown Hartland, she called police.

"The guy that I stopped had no name on his truck. I asked him for a business card, and he wouldn't give it to me. I called the cops," she said. "If he busts our curb, we're responsible for it, and the fence. He wouldn't give me his name. He said he worked for the insurance company."

The Hartland resident said that because of the amount of snow now in her yard, it will probably flood her neighbor's basement when it melts this spring.