Comments: Welp at today’s emergency response team meeting Ole Bob ditched his street super and brought in his big dog Hysterical Hannah. Apparently she was there to help calm him as he shook and complained that he hadn’t received any professional courtesy. And he didn’t like seeing the information on social media and the internet. Couple people told him that was a two way street and he should have let the team know if he was gonna go out on his own. The big issue was certain roads would have been dealt with at a different time if everyone knew what he was going to do ahead of time: We all listened and then after 4 of us gathered to laugh at him after he left. You can’t make this stuff up about this guy. But at least we aren’t talking about overspending and no money to pay bills right now. I’m guessing we can expect Bob to pass off budget shortfalls on street dept overtime and extra storm supplies lol. Stay off the roads. Expect the county to move back a step tomorrow and drop down a level on road warnings.
Added: January 7, 2025 03:40:52 PM
Submitted by Name: JB
Comments: WHO LET THE DOGS OUT ?
Added: January 7, 2025 02:37:33 PM
Submitted by Name: JB
Comments: There was an emergency response team meeting yesterday to discuss the ongoing issue with unsafe roads in the city and county. Among those present at the meeting were: Mayor Bob Courtney, Robert Black representing fire safety, MCS lead school resource officer, all 3 County Commissioners in person or via “zoom”, Matt True our EMA Director, Hanover Police Chief, sheriff, city police and county and city road superintendents. There may have been others but the key players were at the table.
At that meeting road conditions were reviewed as well as progress on road clearing. Numerous serious and dangerous concerns were discussed including the fact that both city and county road plows were still having difficulty staying on the roads themselves. Several had to be pulled out with county trucks after having slide. Many roads remained extremely dangerous especially for public vehicles. The unanimous agreement - included Courtney - they all agreed for public safety the travel restrictions needed to stay in place. And they did for a few hours….
Until Bob decided by himself , without notifying any other snow emergency response team members to lift the restrictions and instead actually went on video to reassure people it was okay to be out on the roads but to be careful. What ensued was a deluge of accidents, hundreds of residents slide off roads, had near misses, got stuck in ditches, had to be rescued etc etc. In fairness, to my knowledge there were no significant injuries but that’s not the point.
In an emergency- especially weather related emergencies we count on elected officials and community leaders to do the right thing for the entire public. That means educating to dangers, openly sharing accurate and timely information and respecting and adhering to emergency team decisions. It means sharing safety warnings and doing everything possible to work with those responsible to assure public safety. Courtney broke all the rules yesterday. He ignored input by others more informed and experienced in road safety than he is or ever will be. He jeopardized everyone’s safety when he lifted driving restrictions after having agreed that restrictions should stay in place.
The truth is many businesses use emergency snow status as a way to determine if it’s safe for employees to be called back to work. It’s also true that many businesses (not all) decided to ignore Bobs release to travel and instead focused on keeping their staff and employees safe. Good for them. But there were businesses who inadvertently endangered their employees by believing Bob was telling the truth. He wasn’t. Or at least the entire remainder of the snow emergency response team had said leave roads closed- but Bob opened them anyway.
Special thanks to all those who despite the emergency still reported to work at hospitals, nursing homes , drove snow plows, fought fires in Kent, aided the stranded elderly and disabled and moms who’s formula had run low, delivered propane to families who needed help and brought meals to shut ins who couldn’t prepare for the storm.
Comments: JB if I read this right Courtney canceled a board meeting today because of the snow emergency? Why not just leave the city closed ? County is closed so why schedule the meeting yesterday and cancel today if the roads are good enough to be out on?
Added: January 7, 2025 11:48:21 AM
Submitted by Name: admin
Comments: Jeff feel free to share a copy of an email in which the mayor’s assistant says today’s Board of public works meeting is cancelled due to the “snow emergency”. There’s a back story to this as well about public access violations. But I found it alarming that the mayor would cancel a public meeting for a snow emergency when he had already lifted the emergency travel restrictions.
Jeff feel free to share a copy of an email in which the mayor’s assistant says today’s Board of public works meeting is cancelled due to the “snow emergency”. There’s a back story to this as well about public access violations. But I found it alarming that the mayor would cancel a public meeting for a snow emergency when he had already lifted the emergency travel restrictions.
Good morning,
I’m so sorry for the confusion but we need to CANCEL the BPWS meeting that we rescheduled for today at 11:30 AM due to the snow emergency. Instead I will try to secure a time to meet Thursday after 1pm. Please look for that notice a bit later today. I need to confirm a quorum. Again, NO BPWS Meeting at 11:30 AM today in City Hall. We plan to send a Public Notice later today, announcing a meeting time Thursday after 1 PM. Thank you and I hope you are staying inside. It is still quite tricky on some roads. Tammy Acosta
Added: January 7, 2025 10:45:51 AM
Submitted by Name: Tami
Comments: Jeff- yes I have the background information you need. The community is livid. This is a significant public safety issue. In the mean time if people would please stay off the roads as much as possible that would help. Despite Bobs removing the no travel warning to the city the roads are still so bad that even city snow plows have slide off roads.
Thank you to all those that risk their safety from our truck drivers, to law enforcement, nurses, firefighters, even the old guys at Kroger who made it so folks could get baby formula, milk or whatever. And special thanks to those who are trying to clear drives of the elderly and disabled or those who are homebound but need a daily caretaker. Some people have to be out there- so help them by staying off the roads whenever you can. There are lots of hometown hero’s today who are trying their best to keep us safe.
Remember just because your road is better doesn’t mean all roads are better. That’s city and county roads both! More to come later.
Admin reply: Jeff:
Information is coming in very fast. Thanks for reaching out - this is an important public safety issue. So I will send info as I can get it verified and ready.
To give you an idea of how bad the roads still are despite Bob lifting travel restrictions- several city and county trucks have had to be pulled out since Bob lifted the emergency restriction. If snow plows are having trouble - people are going to have more trouble. Stay off the roads if you can and encourage your loved ones to stay off the roads. Tams
Added: January 7, 2025 10:11:11 AM
Submitted by Name: JB
Comments: I’m going to ask Tami to post a story about the road emergency. Rumor has it Courtney placed the entire town, county, all law enforcement and guys driving the trucks in danger.
Added: January 7, 2025 09:44:55 AM
Submitted by Name: admin
Comments: Tuesday January 7, 2025
Madison Consolidated Schools - Vitural Learning Day Southwestern Schools - CLOSED Prince of Peace Catholic Schools - CLOSED Switzerland County Schools - CLOSED Carroll County Schools - CLOSED Tuesday & Wednesday - All Athletic Events Cancelled
Name: 2nd go around
Welp at today’s emergency response team meeting Ole Bob ditched his street super and brought in his big dog Hysterical Hannah. Apparently she was there to help calm him as he shook and complained that he hadn’t received any professional courtesy. And he didn’t like seeing the information on social media and the internet. Couple people told him that was a two way street and he should have let the team know if he was gonna go out on his own. The big issue was certain roads would have been dealt with at a different time if everyone knew what he was going to do ahead of time: We all listened and then after 4 of us gathered to laugh at him after he left. You can’t make this stuff up about this guy. But at least we aren’t talking about overspending and no money to pay bills right now. I’m guessing we can expect Bob to pass off budget shortfalls on street dept overtime and extra storm supplies lol. Stay off the roads. Expect the county to move back a step tomorrow and drop down a level on road warnings.