Village Rings Up the Costs of 2011 Blizzard

For many, Feb. 2 marks a notable day in history, when Chicago’s dumped nearly two feet of snow and grinded traffic to a halt.

At , not a cup of coffee was brewing. And this marked another historic occasion, said its owner George Alpogianis.

In the restaurant's 31 years, “That was the first day we’ve ever shut our restaurant,” he said.

And as Alpogianis ventured out to shovel snow in four layers of clothing, Morton Grove officials were already busy clearing village thoroughfares after the whiteout.

Officials said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) issued a Disaster Declaration for Illinois, enabling the village to recoup the cost of additional resources.

Director of Andy De Monte said the department used its existing crew of 28 employees and did not have to call in extra staff. The team worked a continuous 38 hours from about 4 a.m. Tuesday, when lake-effect snow descended, to around 6 p.m. Wednesday, he said.

In a 48-hour period beginning Tuesday afternoon, 504 hours of employee overtime totaled $40,095. The Village used 444 tons of salt and 1,795 gallons of fuel; those commodities totaled about $32,000, according to De Monte.

Vehicles cost about $24,300 and and the regular time cost came to about $25,000.

Tacking on the costs of repairs (about $14,200), the storm's total cost was just under $136,000.

A normal storm would cost the village about $6,000, he added.

 “Even with those numbers, we’re going to be OK,” De Monte said. If the village sees spring storms and a bad winter later this year, “then we’re going to be in trouble.”

In addition to the volume of snow, De Monte said, the wind caused snow drifts that made plowing the roads difficult.

“This was actually about the worst one I’ve ever been involved in,” he said, noting that .

In addition to Public Works’ efforts, Fire Chief Tom Friel said his department took on some additional staff for an estimated total of $9,000 in overtime.

Growing up in Chicago, Kappy’s Alpogianis said he remembers shoveling snow off a neighbor’s roof for $50 during the blizzard of 1979.

Back then, crews were slow to respond and newspapers blasted then-Mayor Michael Bilandic, claiming he was too preoccupied with the upcoming election to prepare for the storm.

Alpogianis said while people are always quick to point fingers, it’s important to consider the conditions and the physical effort that goes in snow removal.

“I thought they did a job second to none,” he said of Morton Grove’s response. “People have to understand they’re operating a very big piece of machinery.”

Village Administrator Joe Wade said the police, public works and fire departments worked in conjunction to clear the roads as quickly as possible. During a standard three-to-four inch snowstorm, those offices don’t have to communicate much with one another, he said.

"When it gets to this extent," Wade said, "it gets to be a Village-wide cooperative effort."

Main routes such as Waukegan Road and Dempster Street usually get the most attention, but De Monte said his fleet plowed many side roads concurrently. Alleys were most difficult to clear and the last areas reached, he said.

Four updates were posted on the village website throughout the duration of the storm. The village also used its reverse-911 system to alert residents that garbage pick-up was canceled and would resume the following week, as the extreme winds could have lifted debris onto the road, Wade said.

Village Financial Clerk Patty Wallenberg said she estimates a couple hundred people called Village Hall from Wednesday through Friday, most asking the Public Works Department to clear their roads.  By Friday, plows had reached most areas, she said.

Besides a few sidewalks on Waukegan that still needed attention as of last week, everything has been treated, officials said.

"It's funny how it was a terrible storm but really things were back to normal very quickly,” Wade said.

Neeza Orjas, employee at at 9424 Waukegan Road, was supposed to report for work at 7 a.m. Wednesday. Although she lives about five minutes away, she finally made it – three hours later.

Orjas said her manager and a maintenance worker were shoveling snow in front of the hotel Wednesday from dusk until dawn. And even though the village was temporally stunned by the whiteout, it appeared many people made it home or skipped town just in time.

“Actually, it ended up being less people,” Orjas said of the lull in business at the hotel.  “We were really low for two days.”

And despite her delay, Orjas said she thinks the village’s snow removal team did a much better job than in Evanston, where her parents live.

“Their streets were bad from Wednesday all the way through Saturday,” she said.