When the public works director told the Arizona Daily Sun, his attention was partly on the map. During the summer monsoon that arrived in the area last week, several storms struck that closely resembled what locals are accustomed to seeing.

Watching for potential floods is one of Tressler’s jobs. At this point in 2023, he’s more than a little used to watching the weather.

Public works in Coconino County are battling the effects of extreme weather and wildfires this year, and that comes at a cost.

On the agenda of the Coconino County Board of Supervisors meeting on May 9, Public Works budgeted $28,000 for heavy equipment repair services after a “record snow season … and a shortage of full-time employees at the heavy equipment plant.” asked for

“That was a year ago, more than a year ago, we were predicting the cost of vehicle maintenance, both heavy equipment mechanics and light vehicles, so-called white iron and yellow iron,” Tressler said. said. explained.

White iron refers to light vehicles such as pickup trucks. The heavy equipment was called “yellow iron”, named after the paint shade preferred by manufacturers such as Caterpillar.

“We use CAT equipment and John Deere equipment. It’s some of the best equipment out there and it’s built to work in very heavy and extreme environments,” says Tressler. said. “We keep our vehicles relatively new, so many may still be under warranty.”

The problem is, when public works set its budget for fiscal year 2023, it had no way of predicting the impact of this season’s staggering total snowfall and a busy period for snowplowing vehicles.

This month, the oversight board announced a $28,000 budget adjustment and $90,000 for machine service shop parts and $32,000 for outside services due to “increased vendor costs, increased vehicle accidents, and unpredictable supply chains.” Both passed budget adjustments.

Snow plows slide off the road every season. Markers alerting drivers to the location of county cowkeepers are buried in dust, and drivers crash into metal grates. More snow means more opportunities for equipment to collide.

Due to a shortage of “in-house” personnel, utilities are bringing in outside contractors to repair their equipment.

“There is definitely more than 30 percent vacancies in road maintenance and repair shops combined,” Tressler said.

County Public Works actively recruits new employees. They have recently held many positions in management and engineering. Mechanic positions are still open, but outsourcing to an outside vendor makes sense.

Tressler said the problem isn’t that vendor costs have increased astronomically at service levels, but rather that counties are increasing their use of vendor services.

“It doesn’t seem like the vendor is charging extra. That’s about the only amount of maintenance we have at the moment. It’s been a harsh winter and we’ve had grunts, bruises, etc.,” he said.

After the snow fell, the thaw began. In March, runoff flooded Slayton Ranch Road, causing the road to collapse under the wheels of a school bus that fortunately had no students on board.

Repairing that road and addressing other maintenance concerns in the flood control district is one of the spring-summer public works priorities.

“There are a number of projects related to some of the post-wildfire flooding we experienced. The Flood Control District is doing a lot of construction in the Timberline area. said Tressler. “Our infrastructure needs to be upgraded to be as flood-proof as possible. I am going to work on it.”

Slayton Ranch Road is being restored, and new box culverts will be installed at the entrance of the Wupatki Trail and at the end of the Brandis Way, Tressler said.

Tressler said public works spend $2.5 million to $3 million annually on pavement maintenance.

“Pavement preservation is about reducing the damage UV rays do to the pavement.

These types of projects help improve the “service level” or quality of roads in the county. While these are important, in some cases they can take a back seat to projects that directly impact public safety or neighborhood access.

“Working in the road maintenance department or public works is tough. Often when Mother Nature is at her worst, we ask people to go out and be at their best.” Mr Tressler said. “We like to do it all at once, but when the Slayton Ranch Road problem came up, we changed our policy. We strive to put life/safety first, and things like access issues, like Slayton Ranch Road access issues, those things are definitely a priority.”

In addition to flood-related projects, public works have a full schedule of capital improvement projects, projects that must be squeezed into relatively tight timeframes. Everything is weather dependent, even for routine repairs.

The long winter has delayed many projects, Tressler said.

“It snowed for a long time and we were not able to carry out the evaluation of the cultural resources that we wanted. “We are still very close to the construction season when we would like it, but maybe a few weeks behind,” he said.

With the snow gone and the floods receding (at least temporarily), Tressler said, public works workers are maxing out the sun, filling potholes and working full-time on capital improvements. said.

Extreme and unusual weather patterns can be difficult to avoid or plan for, but Tressler’s team is still looking to the future.

“The important and important research we are working on is working with ADOT in the Belmont area to update transportation plans for that area,” he said. “It remains an important priority for us. Many of our communities only have one access in and out. This community is growing, so we will continue to put more engineering resources into it. Construction projects are not connected, but engineering resources are. [are allocated] So I’m updating my ADOT and plan so I can get the grant.wants to hold another his ti [traffic interchange] There. “