EAST GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — East Grand Rapids city leaders say they planned for a winter like this one and that their budget can handle the increased demands. However, the impact shows up differently for the crews keeping roads clear.
"The extra time and energy that we put in this year, compared to the last couple years, have been a lot," said Travis Deshaw, an East Grand Rapids Public Works crew leader.
While residents sleep, crews are clocked in, pushing through snow, ice and long shifts to keep roads passable.
"A lot of work and minimal sleep is what it comes down to," Deshaw said.
Public works crew members like Deshaw and Todd Cupp work to ensure residents can reach their destinations safely.
"At least get one pass down through there, so people can safely get to wherever, if it's work, or school, or doctor's appointments," Cupp said.
The increased snowfall has meant significantly longer work hours for crews.
"Depending on the snow storm we could be here from 12 hours, 13 hours, or we have ran a 24 hour operation," Deshaw said.
City Prepared With Strategic Budget Planning
More snow requires not only more hours but also more resources, raising questions about the impact on the city's budget. Director of Public Works Doug La Fave said the city was prepared for the challenging winter conditions after several mild winters in recent years.
"This winter certainly has us ahead of what we would see in a normal, average winter. Here in West Michigan, we've had some mild winters the past few years, and that's allowed us to really focus on more maintenance on our road systems," La Fave said.
The city uses dedicated budgets for major and local streets assigned to winter maintenance, including materials for roads and sidewalks. La Fave emphasized their budgeting approach.
"We typically budget from a more conservative standpoint, so that we were prepared for the unknown," he said.
Each year, the city participates in regional planning meetings hosted by the Kent County Road Commission with all cities, villages and townships in Kent County, along with the National Weather Service.
"The national weather service team, without their awesome predictive modeling and really partnering with local agencies, without them, you know, we would be left trying to figure that out on our own," La Fave said.
La Fave emphasized the city's strong financial position.
"We're here in East Grand Rapids, in a great position in terms of our budget," he said.
The city budgets with built-in margins to ensure they never run too low on resources. When winters are milder, the city transitions winter maintenance budget funds into additional maintenance projects or keeps them in fund balance for future needs.
"That's really the mantra of our team, you know, is to be ready for the unexpected, and we feel like we've, we've met the challenge, and we'll continue to do so," La Fave said.
Regional Collaboration Protects Against Rising Costs
Despite concerns about rising salt costs affecting winter budgets across the region, East Grand Rapids has avoided financial strain through regional cooperation. The city participates in a consortium led by the Kent County Road Commission that includes cities and organizations like Grand Valley State University.
"We put in our quantities way ahead of time, and bid that out together as one and lock in those price contracts way ahead of time so that we don't get affected by impacts during the season itself," La Fave said.
The city currently has 100% of its entire season salt supply stored, with an additional 30% on order for delivery if needed.
"Whether we need it or not, we'll have it stored for next season," La Fave said.
The regional partnerships include mutual aid agreements where communities share resources if one runs low, ensuring no community runs out of salt.
"We have great collaboration and foresight and planning to make sure that not only as individual cities and agencies, we can meet the level service for our communities, but we're willing to help each other to make sure that no one falls behind," La Fave said.
Extended Hours for Crew Members
While the city's finances remain stable, crews have been logging overtime hours.
"Compared to last, from last year yes, last year was a little bit overtime, not a lot. This year was, has been a lot," Deshaw said.
The additional overtime pay provides financial benefits for crew members like Deshaw and Cupp.
"That little extra money helps with your bills," Deshaw said.
Cupp echoing Deshaw, says the overtime pay helps with essential expenses.
"Pay bills, do some work around the house for renovations that's been overdue," he said.
Despite the longer hours and challenging conditions, the crew members take pride in their work.
"We love serving the community, and what we do, we would ask for patience from people," Deshaw said.
La Fave echoed the call for patience from residents.
"We just appreciate everyone's patience and understanding too. We realize that not only is it a challenge for winter maintenance and conditions out there, for our streets and sidewalks to our residents, but also it's something that we all feel as service providers to fight that snow and ice for the residents. So we're all in it together," he said.
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