The worst of the severe weather gave Springfield – unlike the Chicago area – a break Tuesday night.
But, with plummeting temperatures, strong winds, and a chance of snow, Springfield public works director Dave Fuchs (pictured) can’t afford not to be ready.
After Tuesday’s council meeting, Fuchs told WTAX News he had close to a dozen “troubleshooting” trucks ready to go if needed for a late-night and / or early-morning shift. He added the city contracts with a weather service to provide updates whenever needed. Fuchs says Weather Sentry is as reliable as anyone in the “inexact science” of predicting weather.
Fuchs, like many department heads Mayor Misty Buscher installed after becoming mayor last year, is new to the job but not to the responsibilities, with a decade at the Illinois Department of Transportation on his resume.
“I worked in the radio room and was responsible for dispatching the snow control units from one end of the state to the other ad issuing the four-times-a-day weather and road condition report,” he said.
It sounds like expertise in logistics is a big part of the job.
“It’s all of it,” Fuchs responds. “If you don’t have the equipment and the material, it doesn’t matter if you have all the personnel you need. You’ve got to have the machines, the trucks, the end loaders, the salt. and the plows.”