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PITTSBURG —
Editor’s Note: Nikki Patrick was off on Monday. She will return later this week. Today’s Patrick’s People was written by Andrew Nash.
When most Pittsburg State students, teachers and staff are taking refuge from winter storms, the members of the Pittsburg State University Physical Plant do the opposite.
Last night, some time after midnight, the call went out for Physical Plant employees to show up to work, to bust out the heavy snow-clearing equipment, and to get to work making paths in the inches of snow.
“It’s a challenge,” said Kerry Geier, Physical Plant crew supervisor. “The whole crew is out there. If it weren’t for them, it wouldn’t get done.”
Crews went home Monday night, with campus security on the hook to make the call before snow piled up more than three inches. Any more than three-four inches of snow, and the heavy snow-clearing equipment can’t get it all done in one sweep.
“Sometimes, you have to skim it, and you have to go back and make another pass. Our goal is to get out there ahead of that deep stuff,” Geier said.
There have been worse storms. Two immediately come to mind for Geier and Jack Reed, Physical Plant supervisor. The first was roughly two years ago, when roughly 15 inches of snow were dumped on the region. The other was a major ice storm about five years ago that knocked the power out of the building in which the heavy equipment is stored.
But most of the time, it’s not as bad as those two storms.
“We follow the routine. Not every storm is the same. The less ice, the better. Unfortunately, Mother Nature is in control,” Geier said.
Part of that routine is knowing what to plow first.
“The first thing we do is clear a path from the dorms to the dining hall. We clear the sidewalks for the students,” Reed said. “We’ve contracted out the big parking lots, but we have the smaller lots to do. Our next objective is the parking lots to the buildings and be building entryways. The handicapped ramps are very important. We have to address them.”
The Physical Plant will have roughly 15 staffers working late in the night clearing sidewalks. They’ll be using four sweeper brooms, a couple of snow plows, ice melt spreaders, and a salt-sand spreader for the intersections.
Editor’s Note: Nikki Patrick was off on Monday. She will return later this week. Today’s Patrick’s People was written by Andrew Nash.
When most Pittsburg State students, teachers and staff are taking refuge from winter storms, the members of the Pittsburg State University Physical Plant do the opposite.
Last night, some time after midnight, the call went out for Physical Plant employees to show up to work, to bust out the heavy snow-clearing equipment, and to get to work making paths in the inches of snow.
“It’s a challenge,” said Kerry Geier, Physical Plant crew supervisor. “The whole crew is out there. If it weren’t for them, it wouldn’t get done.”
Crews went home Monday night, with campus security on the hook to make the call before snow piled up more than three inches. Any more than three-four inches of snow, and the heavy snow-clearing equipment can’t get it all done in one sweep.
“Sometimes, you have to skim it, and you have to go back and make another pass. Our goal is to get out there ahead of that deep stuff,” Geier said.
There have been worse storms. Two immediately come to mind for Geier and Jack Reed, Physical Plant supervisor. The first was roughly two years ago, when roughly 15 inches of snow were dumped on the region. The other was a major ice storm about five years ago that knocked the power out of the building in which the heavy equipment is stored.
But most of the time, it’s not as bad as those two storms.
“We follow the routine. Not every storm is the same. The less ice, the better. Unfortunately, Mother Nature is in control,” Geier said.
Part of that routine is knowing what to plow first.
“The first thing we do is clear a path from the dorms to the dining hall. We clear the sidewalks for the students,” Reed said. “We’ve contracted out the big parking lots, but we have the smaller lots to do. Our next objective is the parking lots to the buildings and be building entryways. The handicapped ramps are very important. We have to address them.”
The Physical Plant will have roughly 15 staffers working late in the night clearing sidewalks. They’ll be using four sweeper brooms, a couple of snow plows, ice melt spreaders, and a salt-sand spreader for the intersections.
Over the years, there has been a change in philosophy at the administration level to allow for more snow days. Geier and Reed said that’s OK with them.
“It’s a safety measure now. There are a lot of commuters. That gives us time to get the campus cleared,” Geier said. “If students aren’t on campus, it lets us do our job.”
While most of the staff went home at 4 p.m., they knew to be on call after midnight, making for an unrestful evening.
“It’s tough, because we don’t know when the phone is going to ring to come in,” Reed said.
