Mitchell City Council president says crews did 'great job' with snow removal in response to newspaper column

Sam Fosness, The Daily Republic, Mitchell, S.D.
·3 min read

Jan. 17—MITCHELL — A pair of Mitchell City Council members pushed back on an opinion that questioned the city's snow removal performance following the Jan. 2-3 blizzard.

During Tuesday's meeting, council president Kevin McCardle used the public input portion to dispute Mitchell Republic Editor Luke Hagen's editorial that criticized the conditions of the streets on Jan. 12 — over a week after the blizzard hit Mitchell.

"I read an article that the editor of the Mitchell Republic wrote, and he wasn't in town to see the snow. We had 2.5 feet of snow. We have 135 miles of street to plow, and that's just one way," McCardle said.

The Jan. 2-3 blizzard dumped 23 inches of snow on Mitchell and prompted a no travel advisory on the last day of the storm. McCardle emphasized the winter storm's 17 inches of snow falling on Jan. 3 marked the second highest single-day snowfall total in Mitchell on record, which was reported by the Mitchell Republic the following day.

Considering the amount of snow, paired with the challenges snow plow crews faced during the storm — such as being slowed down by abandoned vehicles stuck in the street and assisting ambulance rides — McCardle said crews did a "great job."

"I just want to give them a shout-out," McCardle said of the city's snow plow team, noting he was informed crews put in 477 hours of overtime to handle the snow. "We had plow drivers who couldn't even get to their own homes because they were trying to get the streets cleared."

Council member Jeff Smith said he heard "almost all positive things" from residents on the city's latest snow removal job and added he was surprised by the editorial.

While city crews earned high praises during Tuesday's meeting, Hagen wasn't alone in his assessment of the snow cleanup.

A day after Hagen's column ran in the newspaper,

a letter to the editor was published

thanking the newspaper's editor for the opinion, adding his displeasure with the snow removal.

With the mixed assessments of the city's snow removal job surfacing, McCardle requested to add a discussion item to the council's agenda at its next meeting to hash out the snow cleanup.

"People who hide behind computers and want to talk about how bad of a job the city did, maybe we can have them come here and discuss how we can do a better job when we have two-plus feet of snow on the ground," McCardle said.

Smith supported having a discussion item added to the council's agenda at its next meeting to delve into the city's snow removal process.

"There are always ways of learning and looking at different things. Let's put this on the agenda and openly talk about it. Let's hear some of the facts from the city," Smith said.

Street and Sanitation Supervisor Kevin Roth joined the discussion on Tuesday by giving an update on the city's snow equipment. From the latest blizzard, Roth said three payloaders and two plow trucks broke down. While Roth said some of the equipment has since been repaired, a few pieces of vital machinery are out of commission due to parts being stalled by supply chain woes.