Jackson Co. officials say crews are prepped for storm, after worker died in last blizzard

Jackson County officials say they feel prepared for the metro’s next round of winter storms after an employee died while working during the last winter event.

Everett Carter, 61, had worked for the county for 40 years and was performing snow removal operations when he was struck by a county vehicle in January. Brian Gaddie, Jackson County director of public works, said the incident is still under investigation but preliminary reporting has deemed it an accident.

In response to the incident, Gaddie said county crews have tailgate talks and safety briefings with supervisors before every shift.

“Everybody’s been trained on what we consider to be national and regional standard for utilizing the equipment and the material we spread,” he said.

For this week’s storm, Gaddie said treatment of roads began with Tuesday’s midnight shift, and all 11 county routes were completely treated by the afternoon. Jackson County has 18 vehicles equipped with plows and spreaders to treat roads: four tandem trucks, 10 single-axle dump trucks, and four 6500-class Chevrolet trucks.

The county will run 15-person crews outside with two to three-person crews for supervision and dispatch in two shifts.

About 5 inches of snow is possible in the metro, but snowfall totals could reach as high as 7 inches as the storm unfolds throughout the day Wednesday, according to Jonathan Kurtz, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Kansas City,

Icy rain with snow on top, which comprised last month’s storm, makes treating roads difficult, Gaddie said. With this storm’s forecast predicting mostly snow, that makes treating roads much easier.

“That relieves a lot of the issues with equipment, and it relieves a lot of the issues of the aftermath of getting the snow out of the way.”