Grace Bodey | Co-Editor in Chief
Buena Vista University (BVU) students awoke Monday morning to over a foot of fresh, March snow blanketing campus. For some, in particular the Facilities Management Department, all that snow meant a lot of work. The Tack caught up with Director of Facilities Management Keith Schmidt as he oversaw the plowing, shoveling, and blowing of all that snow for a quick Q&A about how snow removal works at BVU.
Q: What difficulties occur when you’re trying to clear this much snow from a full parking lot of cars?
A: This was one of the larger snows we have had with students on campus for several years. The really big one two years ago occurred during a break, so it was a bit easier. With this amount of snow, it just takes a lot longer to open things up. It also creates some huge piles that also take up space. We have approximately five miles of sidewalks on campus plus all the parking lots. With cars in the lot, it takes longer to move snow because you have to be very careful not to hit one, and we try not to bury any vehicles. It unfortunately still occurs on occasion. It is impossible to clear snow between the cars so you always have snow surrounding the cars, even when the lot is cleared. Once the cars are moved, our staff will go around and remove the snow from the spaces that cars move from.
Q: How many plows, tractors, etc do you have out today?
A: BVU has two tractors with loaders, one pickup with a blade, one small tractor with a blower and two small tractors with blades.
Q: Does BVU have special protocol for big snow storms like this?
A: We follow the same protocol regardless of the amount of snow. Three people start moving snow in the faculty/staff parking lots because those folks [faculty & staff] are here by 8:00 a.m., and start opening up the sidewalks to the street from the city pushing snow off the street. Once those lots are open, they start opening commuter student lots and the regular residential lots. Two or three others start clearing the sidewalks. With this much snow, it takes a long time to get the lots opened up. It also takes longer to clear the walks. Once everything is cleared one time, they start over to try and cleans things up. In a day or two, they will load the snow from some of the lots and haul off campus.
Q: What time did you start clearing this morning?
A: The grounds staff came in at 3:00 a.m. and will probably work late today. They will again start early, 4-5:00 a.m. to continue the cleanup. Several of our regular maintenance staff also goes around campus to shovel out steps, doorways, etc. They started at 7:00 a.m.
Q: How many cars got stuck today? Why?
A: A lot. The problem is some of them were stuck right in the middle of the area in which snow needed to be pushed. That slowed things down even worse. When the snow was forecast late Saturday or early Sunday, the City of Storm Lake put out a snow emergency, which means no one can park on the streets. Many of the cars that were parked on the street did not move until the snow was so deep they couldn’t get into the lots. They got stuck and plugged everything up.
Q: Anything else you want to add?
A: Nice thing is the snow is later in the season. Once it is cleared, the sun clears the concrete. Hopefully, spring is close!
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Photos by Tyson Domingo
