Snow Removal Policy

Goshen College snow removal equipment includes:

1. 1 snow brush on New Kubota (2 year old)
2. 1 snow plow on a 1997 pick-up (19 years old)
3. 1 snow plow on a 2009 Hustler (7 years old)
4. 1 blade & blower on a John Deere tractor 2003 (13 years old)
5. 1 snow brush on a 1992 Hustler (24 years old) (Note: This equipment would be used only if the new Kubota is broken down, as a backup unit).

Craig Johnson, Billy Easton and Larry Lewallen are the first-line personnel assigned to work on snow removal for sidewalks, doorways, and some areas around the physical plant.  Additionally there is one outside contractor (Steve Johnson-RD Johnson) with truck mounted snow plows to do snow removal in all major campus parking lots and all drives. With these persons working during a moderate snow storm, we anticipate that the sidewalks will take 10-12 total hours to do one pass and the drives and parking lots will take 18-20 total hours.  The Church Chapel lot alone takes about 2½ hours to clear using two pick-ups with snowplows.

We expect that following this schedule, the primary sidewalks, the north half of the church lot, the west half of Rec/Fit and employee parking spaces at the Music Center will be cleared by approximately 8:00 A.M. and all the primary parking lots will be complete by 12:00 P.M.  Sidewalks will be machine brushed when there is less than 2” of snow.

During the Christmas vacation time we will concentrate effort on Rec Fitness Center, Church Chapel, employee and visitor parking lots and sidewalks on the campus west of the railroad and along the railroad.

These are the decisions and priorities, which we follow on any day (Monday to Friday, as well as Saturday and Sunday) during the normal school year.

Priorities during various conditions

1. During normal and moderate snowfall, Craig Johnson, Billy Easton and Larry Lewallen along with our contractor, will have as their first priority removal of snow as necessary.
2. During heavy snowfall, all of the physical plant staff may be required to assist in removing the snow from the campus areas.  We may also hire additional outside help and equipment if needed.  (Our snow removal equipment is limited however to what is described above.
3. Physical plant staff will attempt to keep sidewalks and doors as free from snow and ice as possible with our contractor working on drives and parking lots.
4. Once sidewalks and door entries are clear of snow,  our staff will assist the contractor on remaining snow plowing of drives and parking lots.

Priorities for each person are listed below with Ed Yoder as a backup for our staff if one of our 3 grounds staff are missing or there is need for additional help.

I) Sidewalks-Billy Easton, using whichever piece of equipment is appropriate for the conditions, will clear snow in this order.

1.  Areas around RFC (Mon – Fri)
2.  Areas close to parking lots of buildings (so employees can get to work)
3.  Areas from Resident Halls and Apartment to dining hall (so resident students can eat)
4. Other arterial paths

II)  Small Parking Lots Larry Lewallen (1989 Hustler with plow) (Listed in order of Priority.)

1. Physical Plant – Steve Johnson to do PP west & south side
2. CMC – entire east side
3. Dining hall service area
4. Westlawn circle
5. Coffman circle
6. Chairman east faculty/staff parking
7. Small areas which need attention

III) Bicycle Paths Billy Easton and Larry Lewallen will remove snow from bicycle path using whatever equipment is most efficient.

1. Bicycle path from College Avenue north to Rec Fitness Center will be seen as a priority along with main campus sidewalks.
2. Bicycle path from Rec Fitness Center east to 15^th street will be seen as a lesser priority and will be cleared only after all other sidewalks have been properly attended.
3. Bicycle path added to the South end of the campus between the Goshen Hospital parking lot and the SW corner of Newcomer will be maintained by the City of Goshen and Goshen Hospital and is not part of Goshen College grounds department responsibility based on agreement with the Hospital and the City of Goshen.

IV) Building entrance shoveling and ice melt distribution Craig Johnson (and in his absence Billy Easton) will be in charge of the shoveling crews.

1. Hire and manage student shoveling crew.
2. Assign students to all campus building entrances to shovel out doorways to a location where the campus machines can do the remaining snow removal.
3. Clear the snow and ice from at least one half of each side of the railroad tunnel.
4. Once doorways, entrances, and stairway to tunnel are clear of snow, Craig will distribute ice melt on main sidewalks after they have been cleared of snow as needed to melt any remaining packed snow,  slush or ice.
5. Currently the building custodians in the College Church & Rec Fitness are responsible for snow and ice removal within 6 feet of each building door.
6. During evening events at the Music Center or Umble Center, the custodians covering the event are responsible to keep the door entrances clear of snow, or the evening custodians working at the Rec/Fit Building or College Church should cover snow shoveling for evening events at door ways.

C)  Priorities for drives and major parking lots 

I)  Drive/Parking lot-route #1 – contracted to Steve Johnson-RD Johnson. (Listed in order of  priorities.)

1. Drive from RR tracks east to Music Center to 12^th St. entrance
2. Recreation-Fitness Center drive and parking lot – west half first, east half secondary
3. Union Visitor Lot (completed by 7:30a.m.)
4. Union south
5. CMC circle
6. CMC parking lot
7. Music Center parking lot – employee spaces only all other spaces secondary
8. Kratz/Miller/Yoder student parking lot when possible

II) Drive/Parking lot-route #2 – Contracted to Steve Johnson-RD Johnson (Listed in order of priority)

1. Drive into Physical Plant and the parking area South side of Physical Plant.
2. Wyse Hall parking lot
3. Coffman faculty/staff parking
4. CMC Parking lot south of building for RFC use
5. College Avenue lot
6. Newcomer
7. CMC parking lot
8. Fire lane at Kratz/Miller
9. College Cabin

D) Use of salt and ice melt on campus, for environmental reasons, we will limit the amount of chemicals we use while maintaining safety. In these following areas we will chemically treat (salt/sand mixed material), the following intersections because it is our judgment we determine a driver would be “unsafe” if they were unable to stop their vehicle because of snow or ice. (Note: This is contracted with our off campus contractor Steve Johnson.)

1. Coffman drive – 50 feet starting at College Avenue and south
2. Coffman drive – 50 feet on either side of railroad crossing
3. Stoplight north of Newcomer – 50 feet starting light and east
4. Curve at RFC
5. 12^th St. entrance west to Music Center drive, and north to Music Center entrance
6. College Church aisles
7. North Union visitor parking area

E) Policy for calling in snow removal staff

• If between the hours of 3:00 & 3:30 am., there is a light snow ½ – 2”, Billy should ONLY be called in.  Upon arrival at the College, Billy will make the determination whether more help is needed and be responsible for calling in other grounds crew members.   If between the hours of 3:00 & 3:30 am., if there is 2” or more of snow, security should call all three grounds crew members for snow removal.  The contractor for parking lots will make the decision when to plow the lots and will normally not need a call from security unless snow removal is needed for a special events (sporting events, concerts, Church events, etc.)
• For evenings and week-ends where there are special events at the College Church, Rec/Fit Building, Music Center, or Umble Center, campus safety will call Billy to clear sidewalks once there is a measurable amount of snow needing to be removed to protect our campus visitors.
• Building managers (Chad Coleman, Brian Mast, Tina Hartman) should call campus safety when they feel there is a need to have physical plant working on snow removal for an event.
• Snow removal personnel will not be required to work more than a 12 hour shift without time off to rest and refresh.  If there are scheduled events on campus and snow is still falling (or expected to fall) one worker will leave early (after 8 hours) to rest and return to take care of sidewalks for events. This worker will not be required to come until the normal start time the following morning.

Example:

Worker A:  4 am to 1 pm (8 hour shift)     4 pm to 9 pm (to cover event)
Following day:  Start at 7:30 am (available to work 12 hour shift, if needed)

Worker B:  4 am to 5 pm (12 hour shift)
Following day:  Start at 4 am (work an 8 hour day)

• Our goal is to manage the snow removal service on campus efficiently and effectively.  During heavy snowstorms, all physical plant trades will be expected to assist in adequately providing necessary services.  Glenn Gilbert will manage these priorities and is instructed to use his judgment if there are modifications which need to be made to these guidelines.There may be times, when it is in the best judgment of those involved to discontinue snow removal until the snow had slowed or decreased.

F) Policy for moving cars to help clear parking lot

As part of the campus wide effort to remove snow from our major commuter and visitor parking lots, Physical Plant will need the support of Student Life and Campus Safety to help encourage and manage students to park in student parking lots so that all commuter and visitor lots can be cleared of snow in a timely way and faculty/staff parking areas can be cleaned in a timely way without the interference of cars left overnight.

This means resident students will be asked by either Student Life or Campus Safety to not park in RFC, Music Center, Wyse Hall, or Coffman Hall parking areas when snow storms are approaching or during snowstorms.