OTTUMWA —
How much has the weather cost the city and county so far?
Ottumwa Public Works Director Steve Edgington said Thursday that the last two storms — and “one of those was a three-day deal” — will be added onto the file. The total this winter: $118,000.
“That’s a total for the five events, and it’s not as bad as some years,” Edgington said. “Even if we run up to and including Feb. 22, then we’ve spent half of the budget allowed.”
Edgington said the numbers “are fine and won’t run over.” He’s assuming there will be a surplus, and he’ll order another 100 tons of salt.
Then public works should have enough sand on hand with what they hauled in a week ago.
“If the forecast stays about the same, we should be OK, as long as there aren’t major events like 14 inches of snow,” he said.
Wapello County Supervisor Jerry Parker said the county workers plan for snow removal costs so the county won’t go over the budget for removing the snow. The same is true for salt supplies.
“We’ve had a lot of snow, but we may be through with big storms,” Parker said. “As far as causing budget concerns, it’s late in the year now.”
While storms and “big snows” might still happen in Wapello County, it won’t last long.
“The snow will be gone before it’s bladed,” Parker said. “Snow removal hasn’t caused Wapello County any problems at this point.”
Akhilesh Pal is the public works director in Oskaloosa. He said they don’t track the individual storms like Ottumwa public works.
“We’re a small city and might spend $20,000 just for material,” he said. “Last winter wasn’t bad, and we have salt and sand left from the previous year.”
Using materials from last year helped a lot, Pal added.
Wapello County
March 8, 2013
Winter weather budgets for city, county solid
City’s total bill for this winter $118K, about half the budget allowed
- Wapello County
-
- Tornado creates local questions OTTUMWA — If there's a tornado in Wapello County, where would I go afterwards? It isn't hard to understand why local callers are asking Wapello County Emergency Management that question. Josh Stevens, emergency coordinator for the county, said since
- County to learn about disaster declarations OTTUMWA — The county is a step closer to finding out if they'll be getting money from the federal government. "FEMA was here last week, doing a damage assessment," said Wapello County Engineer Brian Moore during a meeting of the Wapello County Board
- Roaring winds Southeast Iowa in clean-up mode after storm passes through OTTUMWA — Work crews in and around Wapello County put in a lot of hours. And they were ready to do it again. “We had the storms roll through there last night,” said Ryan Stensland, a spokesman for Alliant Energy. “Down in southeast part of the state,
- Mixed reactions to tax reduction OTTUMWA — During past public forums in Ottumwa, Sen. Mark Chelgren, R-Ottumwa, told voters the state should follow its own laws and make taxes equal across the board. This week, legislators in Des Moines took a first step toward that goal, which is a
- Budget shift on county agenda OTTUMWA — There's nothing like having some money in the budget to cover a project that doesn't have enough money on its line item. The Wapello County Supervisors will need to move some money to an item that has spent all of its funding, according to
- Wellness challenge asks people to live healthy OTTUMWA — Are you ready for the Live Healthy Iowa 10-Week Wellness Challenge? Some of the city employees joined Live Healthy Iowa, and Jody Gates, the city's health director, was captain of one of the two teams of about a dozen people. "Our goals for
-
Agency couple has provided foster care for 38 kids in last decade
AGENCY — School pictures of 38 grinning children look out into Angie and Terry Hamm's living room, evidence of the years of work and love they've given to those who needed it most. Their house — currently filled with five children, ages 7, 10, 10, 11
-
Severe weather returns to forecast
OTTUMWA — The National Weather Service believes severe weather could return to Iowa this weekend. The storms are expected to arrive late in the weekend and could extend into the next work week. Meteorologist Kurt Kotenberg said Sunday and Monday have
-
Health clinic in Ottumwa joins Mercy Medical
OTTUMWA — Though their future was uncertain, two local health care practices will continue without any interruption in services to patients and will remain at their current locations in Ottumwa. Ottumwa Internal Medicine North and Ottumwa Family Prac
- 90th Street closed until 2014 OTTUMWA — Not only is 90th Street closed for this summer, it's also closed until the summer of 2014. Wapello County Engineer Brian Moore said Wednesday that the road will be closed for a year while Moore and his team work on the road's design. "There
- More Wapello County Headlines
