By Jessica Wiens

The 2012-13 snow and ice season was a memorable one—particularly because of its stark contrast from the previous mild season.

“This winter started out quiet. Maintenance crews capitalized on their summer work late into the fall,” said Steve Lund, state maintenance engineer. “But winter weather during the spring months quickly made up for that.”

The average statewide snowfall accumulations reported by all districts in 2012-13 was 72.3 inches—compared to 29.5 inches in 2011-12. District 1 reported the most snowfall with 129.4 inches at the Duluth Airport and a district-wide average of 94.7 inches. In April alone, the Duluth area had a record 51 inches of snow.

The Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport received 67.7 inches—compared to 22.3 inches in 2011-12. The 10-year average season snowfall is 45.9 inches. Districts 2 and 3 reported an average of 80+ inches for the season.

The massive number of snow and ice events across the state required a lot of salt as well—304,555 tons to be exact. This is in comparison to 154,072 tons in 2011-12. These amounts include salt used to make brine for pre-wetting and anti-icing.

Month-by-month

• Winter began to pick up in December for northern Minnesota. District 2 dealt with the heaviest slush they’d ever seen. They recorded snow and ice events on 20 of the 31 days in the month. No events were major, but included many small nuisances. 

• Several weekend storms throughout January, February and March caused Interstate 94 in District 4 to close five times for visibility and crashes.

• Districts in the western part of the state ran out of salt late in the season, and districts in the eastern part sent salt their way.   

• Many crews across the state thought they were done plowing for the season in April. They were forced to put the plows back on the trucks and then take them off again a few times this spring.

“Our plow drivers and plowing support functions sacrifice a lot in their personal lives to work nights, weekends and holidays,” Lund said. “Their dedication allows Minnesotans to safely arrive at their destinations.”

The social media highlight of the season occurred March 13 when Andrew Zimmern—host of Bizarre Foods on the Travel Channel and Minnesota resident—applauded MnDOT and others for “handling [the] big storm w[ith] minimal negative impact. #impressive.” He has more than a half million Twitter followers.     

MnDOT Maintenance continues to gather information to analyze the 2012-2013 winter season and the department's response to it.

By Lucy Kender, Office of Human Resources

As much as you would like your work day to be without discord, conflict, confusion, misunderstandings and other distractions, you know that’s not always the case. To help you maneuver through these types of concerns—and more—MnDOT today launches a new iHUB site – Someplace to Start, which provides listings of resources to help employees.

“We realize sometimes employees just don’t know where to go with their concerns or need help deciding which way to go. This new resource will give people someplace to start,” said Sue Mulvihill, Employee and Corporate Services Division director.

The new site lists 34 topics such as job stress, discrimination and conflict with colleagues. Each topic links to MnDOT or other state resources that can help, such as organizational development, affirmative action and the State Employee Assistance Program.

“MnDOT’s Human Resources and Affirmative Action staff have helped hundreds of employees navigate through workplace issues and concerns,” said Mulvihill.

Users can also send an inquiry to the Employee Help team to get assistance choosing the best resource.

Employees will soon see posters guiding them to the site as well as pocket cards with some key resources, according to Mulvihill.

Creation of the new site was spurred by the end of the contract for MnDOT’s Employee Ombudsman.

“Because the Employee Ombudsman service is no longer available, we want to ensure employees are aware of all the resources available to them,” Mulvihill said.

By Rich Kemp

Barbara Brodeen has been selected as the new tribal liaison in the Office of Government Affairs. Brodeen was hired in January to train with Linda Aitken, tribal liaison, until Aitken’s retirement later this year. 

“Barbara comes to MnDOT with many years of experience in tribal government and a highly developed understanding of tribal issues,” said Scott Peterson, Government Affairs director. “We are lucky to have someone with her background to carry on the good work that Linda has started.”

As a member of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, Brodeen most recently served as the executive director and as the assistant housing director of the Bois Forte Reservation Tribal Government. Prior to working with Bois Fort, she worked as the training director for the Red Lake Nation and as a tribal liaison for St. Louis County. 

Brodeen earned a Bachelor of Arts at the College of St. Scholastica and will complete her master’s in Tribal Administration and Governance from the University of Minnesota – Duluth this spring. 

Brodeen is now the main point of contact on all tribal relations issues.  Her permanent location is in the Transportation Building in St. Paul; she also works remotely from Virginia, Minn. She can be reached at barbara.brodeen@state.mn.us or 218-742-1096.

Building an effective state-tribal relationship

Aitken has served as the tribal liaison since 2001.

“Linda was the original tribal liaison and has done a fantastic job of working to increase understanding at MnDOT of how transportation issues affect Minnesota Indian tribes and also help tribal members understand the responsibilities and objectives of MnDOT,” Peterson said. “She has created an initial institutional framework that will make it easier for others to resolve differences of opinion and continue to increase understanding in the future.”

During her time as the tribal liaison, Aitken helped establish the Advocacy Council for Tribal Transportation and memoranda of understanding pertaining to how MnDOT will conduct its business in and near reservations.

“I've had the unique opportunity of ‘blazing the trail’ as the first Tribal Liaison for MnDOT,” Aitken said. “Our first success was holding a joint Tribal Transportation Summit, which culminated with the tribes, MnDOT and FHWA signing an accord in which we pledged to work together on transportation issues of mutual interest.”
 
“Our successes over the years in working together on conferences, agreements, the Advocacy Council for Tribal Transportation and partnering on projects have been noted nationally as best practices in tribal transportation.”

Aitken’s final task before she retires will be to develop Tribal-State Relations Training for the benefit of all state agencies. The Tribal-State Relations Training project goals are to educate state employees about Indian people and governments; create partnerships; build relationships between the state and tribes; and to create an enduring commitment by the state to learn about tribal governments.

“This position has been the best of both worlds for me - working with Minnesota tribes and with MnDOT,” said Aitken.

By Becky Dahlberg

Safety and work injuries
Visit the newly reorganized Workers Compensation iHUB site at ihub/safetyandworkerscomp/ to find updated work injury forms, emergency and non-emergency care processes and District Workers Compensation contacts. Hopefully you’ll never need to file an injury form, but if you do, you can now submit it via email; just include your district number in the subject line and send to WorkCompReporting.dot@state.mn.us.

By Chris Krueger

The White House honored MnDOT’s Office of Traffic, Safety and Technology May 8 as a Champion of Change for its work to reduce fatal and life-changing crashes on Minnesota roadways, while enhancing mobility for all users. Deputy Commissioner Bernie Arseneau accepted the award in Washington, D.C. on behalf of OTST.

The office conducts research, demonstrations and operation test activities of technology-based transportation solutions commonly referred to as Intelligent Transportation Systems. OTST was honored for designing, testing and helping to deploy dozens of life-saving rural intersection conflict warning systems throughout Minnesota, while leading a national effort to do more of the same throughout rural America. These systems save lives at rural intersections that might otherwise not warrant or afford more traditional traffic control devices or geometric improvements.

“These Champions represent the very best in American leadership, innovation and progress,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “I’m proud to recognize these transportation leaders who work every day to grow our economy and help us reach our destinations more quickly, efficiently and safely.”

By Beth Petrowske

The theme for the District 1 employee meeting challenged employees to get to know each other, and many accepted the challenge. The event was held May 1 at the Timberlake Lodge in Grand Rapids.

Keynote speaker, Ted Schick, opened the meeting with an energetic and sometimes comical presentation about the “building blocks” required to build a successful operation and reach goals. Schick’s presentation identified the nine crucial building blocks (dealing with adversity, teamwork, safety, communication, vision and strategy, leadership, ambassadors, relationships and competency) and how they affect the success or failure of an organization.

The theme was also highlighted in a Diversity and Inclusion presentation by Sue Mulvihill, Employee and Corporate Services Division director, and Sulmaan Khan, State Aid Office.

“It was a very good day,” said Jay Pierzina, transportation generalist senior at the Hibbing Truck Station. “It was nice to get together with people you don’t see very often and the speakers were very informative.”

More than 350 employees attended the day-long meeting.