El Dorado County snow removal team keeping up with storm

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The EL Dorado County Department of Transportation (DOT) has been the topic of conversation of late with its lack of staffing amidst salary talks and other pay issues.

As of this weekend's storm, the day shift for DOT at Lake Tahoe is fully staffed, and all seasonal staff have been hired, though they still need to complete the training process. According to Matt Moody, the DOT highway supervisor, some of the seasonal hires are already trained, and once the onboarding process is complete, they'll be up to speed. To make up for the shortage until the new hires are on board, five plow drivers and a mechanic have come to Lake Tahoe from the west slope of the county.

With a lot of conversation about a lack of night shift plow drivers, Moody assures the public that they are plowing at night, just not in all nine zones every night yet. At this time, there are four operators and one supervisor at night, and they concentrate on the areas that receive more snow accumulation like the North Upper Truckee neighborhood. Then when the day shift comes on, they pick up where the night shift left off, said Moody.

"They are doing all they can to keep the roads cleared," said Moody.

A reminder to residents to not park on streets, keep driveways cleared, and mailboxes off the street.

The pay for snowplow drivers is still in negotiations and they are still some of the lower-paid operators in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Moody said DOT will continue to think "out of the box" for solutions.