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Gov't officials respond to blizzard
Local
By Dan Roem
Source: Gainesville Times
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9 2010
Though it's hardly, if ever, mentioned on the campaign trail in Virginia, how politicians respond to snow storms affects lives and determines where millions of dollars are allocated. At the state level, Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) called up 500 National Guard troops after declaring a state of emergency, a majority being deployed to help emergency and road crews in Northern Virginia. He told The Times during a phone interview that over 200,000 Virginians lost electrical power Friday and Saturday. "Locally, snow has not affected Prince William County any differently than the rest of the region, said McDonnell, though the area has "taken a tremendous hit with the storm. It's near record accumulation." Rooves caved in at a Manassas Regional Airport hangar and at the Prince William Ice Center in Dale City due to two-plus feet of snow fall. This snow storm, coupled with the December 19 blizzard and smaller storms since has put VDOT "way past" its $80 million statewide snow budget, McDonnell said. "We will not compromise public safety in any way," said the governor, though he added that the storm "will cause problems down the road" regarding funding. Transferring money from the transportation budget for operations and maintenance in order to pay the snow removal contractors is not a problem legally, as "the law is pretty clear that even though we've got a budget that we've planned for in prior years," there is room for emergency snow removal. Locally, Prince William County officials authorized the police department to temporarily gain access to county-owned four-wheel drive vehicles. Police slapped magnets on the side of the white SUVs and trucks "to improvise and get more officers out on the street," said Supervisor Wally Covington (R-Brentsville) during a Saturday phone interview. "Through fleet management, we reserve all of the county's four-wheel drive vehicles for police and fire and rescue," added Board of County Supervisors chairman Corey Stewart (R). Stewart explained that financially the storm does not "affect (us) significantly because they're using county vehicles. They're using existing 4-wheel drive vehicles in the county fleet." Police need access to those type of vehicles for the same reason as regular drivers, according to Covington. "The cars that work really well in regular times don't work so well right now," he said. Both Covington and Stewart confirmed that VDOT is responsible for plowing all county roads and that the county transportation department does not send out its own plows for non-county facilities. It does, however, maintain county-owned properties like school parking lots. "We've got a public works budget to take care of various county facilities," said Covington. "At some point, we'll declare a state of emergency." When the county declares a state of emergency, it is different from the commonwealth's declaration. Rather than receive immediate help or mobilize and prepare National Guardsmen, the county declaration instead opens up a pathway for federal funds to come into the area so the county and state are not stuck footing the entire bill for cleanup. "There could be some cost associated with emergency management," said Stewart. He said some of the most dangerous places for emergency fire and rescue crews to access during blizzards include homes in the rural communities of western Prince William "Bull Run Mountain, which is treacherous even on a good day, is very, very difficult to reach during a major snowstorm like this. So that's our major concern: if there's an emergency that involves fire and police, we want to make sure that we can respond." One silver lining to snow fall like the ones experiences during the last week is it knocks down the crime rate, according to Stewart. "Criminals are usually too lazy to get out of their houses to commit a crime," he said. "There's usually a lull in crime during a snow storm." Covington had problems of his own to deal with after the weekend storm as his pick up truck got stuck while he tried plowing a route from his house to his cattle and horses at his Nokesville farm. (There's still) cattle at another farm that I should get out to, get out there either later today or tomorrow," he said. Stewart, who used to live in Minnesota, took a much more cavalier attitude toward the snow. "I really tell people, 'Enjoy it. You really need to enjoy it.' If you've got an emergency situation, that's a different thing," he said, though he added for those in good health and good means, "Stay at home spending time with your family. Have some hot cocoa and enjoy some good family time."
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