Ready the plows

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Nov. 7, 2014 (A1)

Ready the plows

Crews prepare for long days clearing roads

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News

Richfield’s Annie Stuettgen is part of a special group of people. Stuettgen has been plowing roads in Richfield for more than 20 years and loves it.

“I want to make the streets safe for the public,” said Stuettgen, 51. “I do enjoy it, knowing I’m getting something accomplished.”

Others in the department feel the same way.

The problem, however, especially in the rural areas of Washington County, finding snowplow truck drivers with that mentality and attitude is hard to come by.

“We’ve had difficulty in recent years, which has led us to start our recruitment earlier than usual,” Richfield Village Administrator Jim Healy said.

Richfield isn’t alone, as many communities throughout the county started as early as August trying to recruit snowplow drivers. The sometimes long hours in less-than-ideal conditions are among the many problems villages, towns and cities throughout the county struggle with when trying to find people willing and able to clear the roads during the winter.

Other issues include the inconvenience of an inconsistent schedule and it costs more than $100 to receive a CDL license.

To make the job appealing, Richfield upped its hourly wage to about $20 from about $15 two years ago.

“The drivers that we have on staff do it because they love it,” Healy said. “They’re life-long residents of Richfield; they enjoy helping their neighbors out.”

That’s why Stuettgen continues to be a snowplow truck driver even as Wisconsin often has some tricky winters with heavy snowfall.

Stuettgen was looking to get a job about 20 years ago. She began working part-time in the parks department. In a matter of weeks, she was elevated to full time and eventually became a snowplow truck driver.

“I enjoy meeting people and I enjoy seeing them,” she said.

“We have a good group of guys,” she added. “There’s a lot of respect that goes between everybody. We all work as a team to get it done. You’re not going to find a better team.”

As one would expect, it’s lonely work.

Drivers are in the trucks alone and, during the heavy snowfalls (8-10 inches), work long hours, which may include through the night. Stuettgen said if it calls for it, the drivers will be in the truck for 16 hours, with minimal breaks.

“I remember winters where we get 10-15 inches of snow every other week,” Stuettgen said. “Last winter was doable. The only thing that was tough was it snowed a little bit every day. There were times I was in the truck, 20 or 30 days in a row.”

Stuettgen admits getting a call at 3 a.m. to get to the shop and get ready to plow is difficult.

“Some days you wake up and say you just want to stay in bed,” she said. “But we’ve all been doing this a while. We do what we have to do.

“At the end of the day, we’re pleased with what we do.”

There are no regulations for how long a driver can stay on the road.

The goal is to get the roads cleared for the major traffic rushes in the morning and evening.

With a larger staff, scheduling will be easier and drivers either won’t have to be called in during the wee hours of the night or the hours aren’t as long. The problem is getting that larger staff.

Healy hopes people considering being a snowplow truck driver remember the good deed they’re doing for their community.

“The people who plow our snow, our part-time workers, are the unsung workers of Richfield,” Healy said. “Their work is going to be greatly appreciated.”