One of the challenges for an agency is ensuring that you have a comprehensive, appropriate, and up-to-date snow plan. The comprehensive nature of such plans means that there is so much to track in them that sometimes needed updates slip through the cracks and do not get done. Some features of the plan, like plow routes for example, may be difficult to update because the controlling software is complex and not easy for an occasional user to remember.

Two agencies who have been using a web-based app that, among other things, allows for the easy and rapid creation and updating of a snow plan, will share their experience. You will learn the benefits they have found including clarity of roles and responsibilities, staff coordination, analysis of operations after the season and on a season-to-season basis. They will also share how they envision using this app to assist their winter operations going forward. Come see if your agency could benefit from this app as well.

Each garage across the United States hosts its own unique struggle when it comes to snow removal. Variables like road composite, plow speed, and road conditions vary from lane to lane across the map.

Learn the differences between each type of cutting edge, and how choosing the appropriate style is critical in achieving maximum results.

The correct plow blade can save your road surface and minimize spring maintenance, reduce salt and brine usage, prolong wear life saving time and money, and most importantly provide the safest driving conditions.

What happens to a plow truck when the snow season is over?

Do you unhook the plows and sanders in the spring and hope all is well for next winter? Operators from the City of West Des Moines explain what typically happens for yearly maintenance of snow plow equipment. Come join the discussion!

Operations managers know they can no longer operate as they have in the past for many reasons including increased operational costs, declining budgets, loss of staff and increased service level expectations of the public. However, if resources are limited, how can your agency move forward in your winter program?

The first step requires us to ask ourselves the right questions and then determine what methods or technology will help you achieve your intended goals.

In this session, you will hear how local cities, counties and DOT have answered these questions and moved forward implementing technology with limited resources. You will relate to some of their challenges in getting staff buy-in for change as well as obtaining resources for implementation.

Their experiences will provide you a framework to begin the planning and implementation of change for your own agency.

The Excellence in Ice & Snow Control award recognizes agencies that demonstrate excellence in the management and administration of public works snow and Ice operations.

Join this year's winners from the City of Columbia, Missouri and the City of Montgomery, Ohio to see what their agencies accomplished to win the 2016 Excellence in Snow & Ice Control award.

Municipalities face many challenges. Road weather forecasting services can help deal with these. This session will discuss how you can utilize these systems to increase safety, mediate risk, protect the environment, reduce costs and increase productivity. You will learn the importance of proactive decision-making, the value of preventative treatment and the differences between road vs. atmospheric temperatures.

A leading attorney in MN recently reviewed a sample of maintenance policies and discussed their strengths and weaknesses at our road salt symposium. This caused quite a stir and set us into action. We did some fund raising to hire attorney Louis Smith then assembled an advisory team of MN winter maintenance experts to coach him on the issues agencies have to address.

Armed with this support, Louis and his team developed a new MN model policy. The policy takes into consideration the many factors that influence winter maintenance today. It is available for you to use and change as you see fit. We hope it helps protect the industry legally and motivates the industry to balance level of service, environment, budget and other factors more equally and sustainably.

Come hear an operator's perspective for setting up and calibrating ground speed controllers in a bottom up organization. We will discuss lessoned learned over 18 years of working with many generations of ground speed controllers. We will focus on granular and liquid calibration of trucks discussing the various types of controllers we have use over the years. You will learn the importance of keeping records for individual trucks for reference from year to year as well as how to make calibrating your fleet a streamlined process.