Public Works Applauded For Storm Clean Up

Warmer temperatures have melted away much of the snow that fell on Barrington earlier this month, but Public Works crews are still being recognized for their hard work cleaning up after the storm. 

On Feb. 14, Public Works Director Dennis Burmeister gave a presentation to the Barrington Village Board about his staff's efforts to dig out of the snow. Burmeister said the village was well prepared for the storm to hit and did a significant amount of planning ahead. 

"The village's emergency management team met prior to this event, and we met numerous times throughout the event," he said. 

Nearly 25 inches of snow fell on the area over the course of a week. However, the amount of snow fall wasn't the only problem. 

"Probably the big challenge we had in the storm was the high winds," Burmeister said. "It was extremely windy out which caused severe blowing and drifting, resulting in reduced visibility and periods of white out conditions."

Those winds caused snow drifts as high as three to four feet in some areas, making plowing the roads nearly impossible.

"We could go and plow roads, and within a half hour or hours worth of time, it was like we'd never even been there," he said.

Barrington Public Works crews worked tirelessly throughout the storm to clear roads all over town. Staff members were on duty 24 hours a day from the time the storm hit on Tuesday, Feb. 1 until  the roads were passable on Thursday evening.

Burmeister said the job was difficult, but couldn't be done without the help of the entire village staff. 

"This was one of those situations that really makes you proud to be part of a team," he said. "And we just had such a wonderful team that could get the job done."