Canton service director, street supt. give snow crew kudos

CANTON – Public Service Director John Highman said Martin Luther King Day marked the Canton area's "largest storm in 35 years."

As more snow fell Monday evening, Highman and Street Superintendent Steve Trzcinski gave Canton City Council an update on street clearing efforts.

"Obviously, last Monday's storm was different than what we may be accustomed to here," Highman said. "I would say it was different than anything we've had in 35 years."

The winter storm dumped about 13 inches of snow overnight from Jan. 16 into Jan. 17. Highman said the Street Department was "24/7, all crew staff, all hands on deck, starting Sunday through storm cleanup."

It was "all hands on deck" again as three to five inches of snow fell Sunday night with additional snow in Monday's forecast.

Highman said the city schedules its 31 snowplow drivers around the clock Monday through Friday as a precaution in winter. A minimum of 12 drivers are on duty at any given time with up to 23 drivers a shift during storms, such as that on MLK Day.

There currently are four openings for snowplow drivers, Highman said, but the Street Department can use drivers from other departments if it's short-staffed.

The city has 1,090 lane miles to plow — including U.S. routes 30 and 62 — with 19 trucks. Canton has purchased 11 trucks since 2011 after "some time" without upgrading its fleet, Highman said.

Stark County's second-largest city, Massillon, has 170 lane miles and 11 trucks. Highman said the largest townships have a couple of hundred lane miles and seven to 12 trucks.

"So, whenever we're kind of comparing ourselves to others, we have to keep in mind just kind of where we're at, where we've come from, and where we're at today compared to where we were," he said.

Trzcinski said the most comparable storm in recent history was 7 inches of snow during MLK weekend of 2020. It took 555 hours to clean up after that storm compared to 620 hours this time.

"So in comparison, I feel as though our staff did the best that they could in the time frame that they did," he said.

Trzcinski additionally thanked his staff "because it's stressful working 12-hour days in the conditions that they're working."

Several council members said they heard from residents about streets in need of clearing and crews did a good job of responding.

Councilman Greg Hawk, D-1, said the staff did an "exceptional job."

Councilman Frank Morris, D-9, also thanked the Street Department and his fellow council members for taking "brutal" calls from constituents.

"It was the most hectic, crazy couple of days," he said.

Residents weigh in

SeeClickFix — an online system to submit requests and complaints to the city — received an avalanche of snow removal requests after the MLK Day storm. Several additional requests have been added since Sunday, when the National Weather Service recorded 3.8 inches of snowfall followed by 3.1 inches on Monday.

Tuesday morning, a resident of Struble Avenue NE reported that their street still was unplowed from the MLK Day storm. Additional requests from residents of Yale Avenue NW asked for snowplows and reported cars stuck from the previous weekend.

In response to a SeeClickFix complaint on Sunday about an unpaved alley, the city Street Department replied with its plowing priorities:

"1. Main’s: Expressways, major thoroughfares, hills, etc. 2. Secondary’s: Mostly residential streets. 3. Ending: Alley’s, cul-de-sac’s, smaller (single lane) residential streets."

Dahnaad Ahshaad, who has lived in the 1000 block of Park Avenue SW for 30 years, said he didn't see a snowplow last week until Wednesday evening. By then, he already used a snowblower to clear sidewalks for himself and four neighbors.

The city truck pushed "giant clumps of snow and ice" back onto his property, Ahshaad said. He called the Street Department and was told they don't clean sidewalks.

"They're doing everything backward," he said. "They should come out and formulate a better plan to remove the snow instead of creating a problem and adding insult to injury."

Ahshaad submitted one of two letters received by The Canton Repository critiquing the city's plowing. The second letter writer and numerous commenters on social media described unpassable roads or long waits for snowplows in the days following the storm, whereas only a few posts thanked the city for their efforts.

Erik Kire stated via Facebook Messenger that Millie Court NE had not been plowed by Tuesday afternoon. While he understands alleys are a low priority for the city, he said Millie Court provides the only access to parking for some residents.

"I personally missed two days of work being unable to leave," he stated.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Canton service director, street superintendent give snow crew kudos