We recently spoke with Becky Allmeroth, the Chief Safety and Operations Officer with MoDOT on the upcoming winter, including snowy projections, and a staffing shortage that is expected to impact service in this statewide agency.
Dan Williams:
This is Dan here with Ozark Radio News and I’m talking with Chief Safety and Operations officer from MoDOT, Becky Allmeroth. Becky, how are you today?
Beck Allmeroth:
I’m good, thank you.
Dan Williams:
Thank you very much for talking with us. I know that winter preparation is kind of something that’s been on everybody’s mind here lately. We’re all getting long forecast reports and from various different sources, whether that be old traditions or the Farmer’s Almanac telling us that we’re going to have an especially wet and cold winter. Now, what have you guys over at MoDOT been doing to try to prepare for this?
Beck Allmeroth:
Yeah, we’re seeing the same forecast, so we are prepared for that extreme winter that is being forecasted. Late last week on Thursday, we had our annual winter operations drill, so that preparation allows for our new drivers, our first time snow operators, along with our returning veterans that’ll be plowing to actually put all the equipment on the truck, go out, drive the routes they’ll be assigned for the year before any snow is on the ground, and just develop that training and comfort level before we have a real event that hits.
Dan Williams:
Do you guys happen to have any kind of projections or expectations as to when the first wave of these kinds of winter storms might approach?
Beck Allmeroth:
We contract out with a meteorological company and then we also have a good partnership with National Weather Service, so we pay close attention to their long range forecasts and it really does, this year looks like we could have some winter precipitation before the first of the year, where typically we have some mild events before the first of the year, but most of the winter happens after that. We are prepared for things to be a little earlier this year, even as early as the beginning of November.
Dan Williams:
Becky, I know you guys are also having a little bit of trouble that many other organizations within the state and the country are also having right now, and that is a staffing issue. How are you guys handling that and how do you think it’s going to impact your duties over the winter time?
Beck Allmeroth:
Yeah, we are competing for those same CDL drivers that most of the other organizations, school bus drivers, Amazon drivers, Walmart drivers, you name it, and there really is a shortage of those operators. This time last year, we had a shortage of about 15% or about 400 to 500 operators. This year that shortage is closer to a thousand operators or 30%, so this is an impact that’s going to be felt across the state. We are really trying to get the message out right now. If you have a CDL and you work for a company like a landscaping company where you don’t have as much business in the winter, we are still hiring, ready to train additional operators and our pay is competitive. If anybody’s interested, please check us out at modot.org and there’s some hiring information there.
Dan Williams:
If somebody were interested in working for MoDOT, that might be the best avenue to approach?
Beck Allmeroth:
Absolutely. We have all kinds of openings, as well. If you’re just interested in being an emergency equipment operator and just helping with snow or if you want to come for the snow and then stay on as a permanent full-time position, we have plenty of full-time positions as well.
Dan Williams:
If somebody needs to try to contact you guys and they want to try to get good, helpful tips and tricks maybe for even dealing with sort of winter weather themselves, is there a good number to contact for you guys there or is there an organization that you’d rather direct them to?
Beck Allmeroth:
They are more than welcome to contact us at 888-ASK-MoDOT. We can answer any other questions there, and that is a line that is staffed 24/7, or we put a lot of information out and we will be ahead of storms on social media, on the news outlets. We’ll be putting out press releases to let everybody know what to expect. And again, if it’s a small storm and lasts one shift or less than 12 hours, we’ll be able to handle that with no problem. It’s those extended storms that last more than one shift or 24-48 hours, that’s where we’re going to struggle a little bit and where we’ll have some trucks parked, but we will communicate that well ahead of the storms so people know what to expect and if they can stay home, we’ll ask them to do so.
Dan Williams:
Well, thank you for talking with us, Becky. That’s pretty informative there. I’m sure if we do end up having any kind of those complicated storms, you’ll get in touch with us, but since that is the case, I’m kind of hoping we don’t hear from you.
Beck Allmeroth:
Exactly.
Dan Williams:
It’s kind of one of those, “No news is good news” situations, I suppose.
Beck Allmeroth:
That’s exactly right.
Dan Williams:
Well, thanks again for talking with us, Becky. It’s been a pleasure.
Beck Allmeroth:
Anytime.
