The air is crisp and the leaves are still falling, but winter is coming. After last year’s brutal snow, the city of Nampa is out with its official plan for dealing with cold weather hazards like snow-covered roads and ice.
Nampa’s new plan is the product of community feedback, a reflection on lessons learned from the last brutal winter, and evaluating how other towns in the Treasure Valley responded.
Vickie Holbrook, the communications director for the city, says keeping residents informed is a key aspect to the new guide. In addition to a snow website, Holbrook says the city has set up “a dedicated phone number and a dedicated email address so we can see where trouble spots are.”
The phone number is already waiting to take calls.
When you dial the hotline, a recorded female voice says, “Thank you for calling the City of Nampa snow phone line. In the event of a snow storm, please leave your name, address, phone number…”
Communication is paramount in the new plan, but so too are material resources.
“We’ll use more salt this year,” Holbrook says. “We experimented with it a little bit last year with some success, and we’ll be using it at major intersections. And, if the conditions are ripe, and we have about six inches of snow on the ground, then we’ll also call on contractors to help with plowing the residential streets.”
Additionally, the city has allotted more money in this year’s budget to cover the costs of overtime, contractor assistance and supplies like sand and chemicals.
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