Frustration over snow removal issues in the county portion of Lake Tahoe

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Storms come, and storms go at Lake Tahoe. Snow is nothing new, but what happened in the El Dorado County part of Lake Tahoe caught many but surprise, and left them angry.

After feet of snow fell last weekend, snowplows were deployed to get to the roads and remove snow. The problem with this storm for county residents was the lack of plows that came to clear the roads. Some zones got one sweep by a plow each day, while residents along Upper Truckee Road and its sidestreets did not see a plow for a few days, leaving deep snow for vehicles to navigate.

El Dorado County Supervisor Brooke Laine received dozens of phone calls about the road conditions in her area. She drove the roads to experience what the residents were telling her and found roads that could not be driven as they hadn't been plowed, and those that had been plowed were narrow not cleared to what a person should expect. Laine spent the weekend and this week working with residents and the county's Department of Transportation (DOT) to find out 1) why roads weren't plowed, 2) why did the service break down, and 3) how to get plows into service.

"The circumstances they were experiencing were awful," said Laine. "Everything was as bad, or worse than they described."

Laine said it was frustrating to find that the department is understaffed and that there was more equipment in the yard that they have drivers for, something she thinks should have been figured out and addressed in September.

There should be 19 snow removal employees for the lake portion of the county, 7 of them seasonal and the rest (12) full-time. At this time there are only 9 full-time and 3 seasonal. Only two of these staff members work the night shift. After Laine started making phone calls, seven employees from the West Slope came to Tahoe to help remove the snow Monday. Some roads hadn't been touched yet with any snow removal until then.

She said they are very appreciative of the small crew they do have.

"They care and are working the best they can with what they have," said Laine.

"The City of South Lake Tahoe has raised their pay rates and created a robust department," said Laine. "They have two graders and one blower for every neighborhood 24/7 during storms. That formula is working."

She wants the same for County residents.

Voters passed Measure S in November 2022 (and went into effect January 1, 2023) which was a four percent increase in the transient occupancy tax that goes to the sole purposes identified in the measure — snow removal and the maintenance of existing roads in the unincorporated portion of the Tahoe Area of El Dorado County. Revenue was expected to be approximately $2,500,000 per year. There is a Measure S committee made up of local representatives to ensure the funds are being spent where they need to be.

New equipment has been made available but one of the newest graders had just 20 hours of use on it when a driver on North Upper Truckee Road ran into it during the storm, putting it out of service.

What made things worse this storm was the number of cars rerouted to US50 from the closed I80, many using North Upper Truckee as their phone apps told them to. Since it was not plowed, numerous cars and big rigs had to be towed out of the way, wasting valuable time the plow drivers would have used for neighborhoods.

The County has lost staff to both the City and Caltrans as both of those departments pay more than El Dorado County. The City hired this winter $38.3208/hour and El Dorado County hired their part-time staff at $33.04/hour as a top amount, plus a $6,000 signing bonus spread out over the winter. The County's full-time salaried people fill where needed, not just for snowplowing.

"Our snow plow program is in need of upgrading," said Laine. "It's been slipping and falling apart for a while now and this storm highlighted the fact that this department needs better tools like a better workforce. They need a good work environment and good pay, as well as good processes."

Laine said DOT is supportive and knows this situation needs to be fixed.

"We have enough time to fix this by next winter," said Laine. "We need to address snowplow services much as the City has.