With forecasters predicting a snowfall that could be as high as 10” and as little as 6”, the city was taking no chancestaking anything for granted regarding the possible outcome on Thursday.
City Manager Jay Ash declared a snow emergency Wednesday night at 8:00 p.m.
“At least this gives residents time to come home from work and to do their shopping or eating out,” Ash said.
Ash also said it was his hope that the snow emergency could be lifted Thursday morning, however that was obviously dependent on the amount of snowfall.
School officials Wednesday evening were also watching the weather closely before making any decisions about calling off classes.
As the protocol calls for, school officials readied themselves to make judgments closer to school time Thursday before suspending classes for the day.
The city’s snow budget, according to Ash, has been cleaned out by January’s heavy snowfall and inclement weather, which has caused a great need for salting, sanding, plowing and snow removal.
This means the city has exhausted the $60,000 set aside for those necessities and will need to find the cash to continue the operations.
City hall had contacted police, fire, DPW, and 911 operators in anticipation of the snowfall.
In addition, contract plow operators and tow truck operators were also notified and ready for any contingency.
At the Eastern Minerals depot on Marginal Street, the mighty salt piles were being reduced dramatically by the hour as trucks from all over the state came to load up with road salt.