Afton officials pleased with snow removal

AFTON - Heavy snow could have made a weekend slick and dangerous in Afton, but thanks to the hard work of city employees, residents didn’t have to worry too much.

The city commended maintenance worker Jesse Shade after he spent his weekend plowing snow across the city. Afton officials defended their maintenance worker after a complaint was given to the city mayor.

Mayor Michelle Burger said she received a message after snowfall over the weekend. Noting Shade’s long hours during a weekend of snow removal, one Afton resident was concerned if Shade was possibly exploiting the city by working such long hours.

All city officials disagreed with the complaint and noted the capabilities of having city employees work together and be dedicated to the city.

Shade delivered a letter to the council describing his hours during the weekend and strongly disagreed with the complaint. The letter itemized his schedule, describing 14 hours and 35 minutes of weekend labor removing snow for the city.

In collaboration with Afton Police Chief Jake McGuire, Shade often clears snow at untimely hours, waking up early and spending long hours without a break. Shade lamented how harsh snow removal is on equipment and roads, saying he doesn’t stay out longer than what the city needs.

To help city residents understand when he will remove snow, Shade suggested the city create an official snow removal policy. Shade said he operated on an informal rule of plowing whenever the city received over two inches of snow. The policy would codify this rule.

“He did an excellent job,” Burger said. “He doesn’t go out unless it’s over two inches. It was a heavy snow. Jesse takes his weekend and he does this; Jake helps him. I’m glad we have a community that works together, everybody.”

Updates for the city employee handbook were also made during Tuesday’s meeting. These updates showed support for city employees who have proven their dedication to the city.

Part of routine updates to the city handbook were to better align city policy to city employee schedules, mostly from the hiring of Crystal Thomas as Utility Clerk and additional hours for Shade.

These updates included describing the hours for part-time schedules to be between 20 to 30 hours, upgrading holiday pay to match the employee’s hourly day schedule and giving the option for a city maintenance worker (in this case, Shade) the option for a four-day, 10-hour schedule of a five-day, eight-hour schedule.

In other Afton City Council news...

Following heavy snow in Afton over the past couple weeks, the council will renew efforts to make the storm shelter at East Union more accessible to the public. After snow from earlier this year, the city had originally planned to converse more with the district but was delayed after one of the council members assigned to the project had medical issues.

Sworn in during Tuesday’s meeting in re-elected positions were Mayor Burger and council members Jeff Burger and Kristie Nixon. Afton elected their local representatives in November.