Staff photo / R. Michael Semple A Trumbull County Engineer’s Office snow plow fills up with salt in Hubbard on Thursday afternoon. The area’s latest winter storm, which brought a mixture of rain, sleet and snow, began late Wednesday and continued Thursday. More snow is expected today.

Meteorology meets manpower in clearing away a snow and ice storm the size of the one that began overnight Wednesday and continued throughout Thursday.

Unable to keep up with snow and ice removal, the Youngstown street department called for backup.

In addition to its 13 snow plows and two smaller trucks, the street department is getting assistance from the city’s parks and recreation, wastewater and traffic departments as well as hiring a couple of outside contractors for a total of about 30 vehicles dedicated to plow and de-ice the streets.

Even so, it’s going to take about 48 hours after the snow stops to clear Youngstown streets, said Kevin Flinn, the city’s buildings and grounds commissioner.

In the past, it’s taken three to four days, he said.

“It won’t change unless we somehow double the trucks and staff,” said Flinn, who added that won’t happen.

It comes down to numbers, he said.

Youngstown has close to 1,000 streets and is responsible for every road and highway — except Interstate 680 — in the city limits, Flinn said.

Youngstown’s priorities remain the main corridors, highways and the area around St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, he said.

That comes at the sacrifice of the side streets, Flinn acknowledged. But addressing the other parts of the city are a priority, he said.

It means when snow or ice accumulates, the street department runs tandem snow plow trucks along the main sections of the city while the side streets wait, Flinn said.

This long has been a source of complaints from residents.

When the last big snowstorm hit Jan. 16 and 17, it wasn’t until Jan. 19 before all side streets were plowed. That left several vehicles stuck in driveways and on unplowed streets for a few days when people tried to venture out.

“Our message is still the same: Please be patient and don’t crowd the plow,” Flinn said. “The misconception is when you call in your street gets added to a list. We have GPS trackers in all of our trucks and we know which streets have been plowed.”

But if a side street hasn’t been touched 48 hours after a snowstorm ends, Flinn said to contact the street department.

During last month’s snowstorm, the department literally was buried in calls from people wanting their streets cleared, he said.

The city partnered with Youngstown State University’s math and statistics department in 2019 to review the snow removal routes to be more efficient. Before that, the routes hadn’t changed in 30 years.

Flinn said the study was “very helpful in organizing information we need,” such as areas that experienced population declines and closed school buildings.

Since then, the street department has annually re-evaluated its snow plow routes to make them more efficient, he said.

It will be done again in March, he said.

ESSENTIAL STAFF

Mahoning County announced Thursday that all county offices and buildings would be closed except for essential staff at 2 p.m. Essential staff would include employees at the Mahoning County Juvenile Justice Center.

The decision was made in communication with the National Weather Service in Cleveland and in concurrence with the presiding judge of the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court and county safety officials. That includes Mahoning County Public Health, which also closed at 2 p.m. Thursday. Board of health offices were scheduled to reopen at 8 a.m. today, weather permitting.

The Youngstown Police Department late Thursday afternoon announced drivers in the northbound lane of Interstate 680 were experiencing delays due to a crash involving a tractor trailer. Police advised drivers to avoid that area.

COMMUNICATION

Mahoning County Commissioner David Ditzler said the commissioners were in communication with Mahoning County Engineer Pat Ginnetti and Andy Frost and Robin Lees of the county Emergency Management Agency, as well as Sheriff Jerry Greene during the night to discuss the storm that hit overnight and into Thursday.

“We had a conversation at 4 a.m. to decide what to do, if anything, about the storm. With the recommendations from the sheriff, the people on the road who were plowing and EMA, they recommended there was not a need to close the county offices,” Ditzler said.

“We let them make the call. They are the professionals. They are the ones in communication with the National Weather Service. They’re the police on the road who are seeing the conditions on the roadways. We trust the expertise of the professionals,” Ditzler said.

The commissioners held their regular weekly meeting Thursday in the basement of the courthouse, even though the courts were closed and some elected officials closed their offices. The juvenile court’s detention facility, however, stays open.

At the end of the meeting, Ditzler urged the public to stay safe as the storm plays out but noted he had his own issues with the weather two weeks ago when it snowed heavily.

“Be careful. Don’t be like me. I have a torn triceps and a hairline fracture in my elbow from slipping on the ice. I plowed my whole driveway for two hours, got it all done. Went out with a broom to brush off the steps in case the UPS guy had to come up the steps. I made one swipe with the broom. My feet went out from under me, went down. I hit my elbow on the corner of the cement step.

“After a week of just icing it and thinking it was OK, I got an MRI and I have a partially torn triceps.”

Staff writers David Skolnick, Guy Vogrin and Ed Runyan contributed to this report.