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Employees shine amidst the snow

Snow and ice shut down the campus for most of the last week of January and left hundreds of University employees stranded at home. The winter weather also allowed some employees to shine.

Among the first to do so were 12 members of the Grounds Services Department. Sixteen inches of snow began falling the night of Monday, Jan. 24: They began clearing roads and parking lots at 10 p.m. They kept at it, in near blizzard conditions, until 2 a.m. Their work kept Manning Drive and Columbia Street open to traffic -- and kept the emergency room and hospital entrances cleared.

Three of the 12 stayed on duty to respond to emergencies. The nine others went to a nearby motel for a few hours of sleep, then returned to work at 6 a.m. The snow continued until early afternoon and the crew ended up plowing some of the same surfaces over and over again.

Curtis "Butch" Williams, a plumber most days, decided on his own accord to come in at 4 a.m. on Tuesday to crank up a backhoe and start clearing parking lots buried in snow. He made it in early the rest of the week to finish the job.

Betsi Snipes said her staff did what it took to get two payrolls completed -- and meeting an IRS deadline for distributing W-2 forms -- all in the span of a few days. It took help from other departments and her entire staff coming in for part of a Saturday to manage it, but the work got done, she said. And done on time.

Bill Vierra and Eddie Howard have worked together for more than 20 years in the roofing, sheet metal and installation shop. Vierra and Howard didn't miss a day of work the entire week.

They devoted most of Tuesday to clearing loading docks and sidewalks around their shop. On Wednesday, they drove into campus armed with shovels to clear steps and walkways. They started with handicapped ramps. On Thursday and Friday, they were back at it, clearing whatever needed to be cleared.

Vierra said one word best describes Howard's attitude: "Committed."

Closings rare

Bruce Runberg, the vice chancellor for facilities, was among the core group of administrators who advised Interim Chancellor William O. McCoy to close the campus for one of the few times in its history.

Runberg said they had a detailed policy manual to guide their decision. But all it really took was "good common sense," Runberg said. The weather reports predicted it. One look out the window proved it.

"It was clearly the right thing to do because it was so severe," Runberg said.

Susan Ballinger, assistant University archivist, said there is no definitive list of how many times the University has closed. But the last time classes were suspended because of snow may have been on Jan. 15, 1957.

Twelve inches of snow fell on campus on Jan. 27, 1921, but there is no record of whether classes were interrupted, she said.

During an influenza outbreak in 1918, students were put under a quarantine and not allowed to leave their dormitory rooms in the month of October.

In recent memory, the campus closed for one day in January 1996 because of an ice storm, one day in September 1996 because of Hurricane Fran and for a few hours last September because of Hurricane Floyd.

But the scarcity of information about closings can be seen as evidence of how rarely they happen.

And maybe that explains why Eddie Howard decided to come to work without thinking much about it: "When I first came here, they told me the University never closes down and to come in to work when you can," he said. "That's what I did. It's just my job."

Another employee who showed up for work during the closing was Ken Brock, building supervisor for the Student Stores. Tuesday morning, he noticed a doctor in his white uniform trudging along by the Bell Tower in "half-dollar snowflakes." He rolled down the window and offered him a lift. "It was no big deal," Brock said. "I was just going home."

Wednesday and Thursday, he dropped off a nurse who works at UNC Hospitals. No big deal, Brock said. She was a neighbor, and he was going to campus anyway.

On Thursday, the Student Stores opened from noon to five and students began popping in to buy Cokes and potato chips. A few even bought textbooks. "We were the cabin fever relief," Brock said.

Snipes, the director of payroll services, takes a matter-of-fact attitude about the job that she and her staff of 12 did. As she sees it, people don't deserve praise for doing what they are paid to do. But the final week of January, she concedes, may merit an exception.

Most of the time, the processing of the bi-weekly payroll and monthly payroll falls on different weeks. But this particular week, they were due out within days of each other -- Jan. 28 and Jan. 31 -- along with the W-2 forms. What made it worse was that the work piled up the same week as the snow, Snipes said.

"The timing for the snow storm could not have been any worse, with a bi-weekly payday, a monthly payday and W-2s scheduled for distribution that week," she said.

"It would have been a difficult task at best with a full staff, but with three getting in to work on Wednesday, five on Thursday, and outside assistance from other departments, we were able to have everything done on schedule."

Administrative Information Services personnel pitched in, too, coming in to provide the technical help needed to process paychecks on time.

And Academic Technology and Networks did its part to keep campuswide computer networks running, manning the Information Technology Control Center in Phillips Hall.

Charles Gallagher, the plant maintenance supervisor with Facilities Services, said his biggest worry throughout the week was a widespread loss of power as the result of the ice, but power outages were rare. The chancellor's house and cottages were among the few buildings that lost power. The cause: an electrical line downed by falling trees. The Electric System Distribution crew cleared the trees and repaired the lines.

One crew member stood guard over another power line that fell on South Road just south of Country Club Road. The live, 7,200-volt line posed a danger to both students on foot and drivers.

The extra mile

Scott Myers supervises the 300 Sodexho Marriott employees who run the cafeterias at Lenoir and Chase halls.

Tuesday, only 50 employees made it to work, Myers said. They fed "brunch" to some 2,000 students at Lenoir, then prepared a dinner of steak and shrimp scampi at Chase. "Not too bad for a snow day," Myers said.

About 100 employees made it to work on Wednesday and Thursday by whatever means they could, including their feet, Myers said.

An average of about 10 key employees stayed in nearby hotels to make sure they could make it in. Some didn't see their families the entire week.

Two employees with four-wheel drive trucks spent three days hauling employees to work in the morning and back home at night. They started at 5:30 in the morning and didn't get through until 9 at night, Myers said.

The week was as exhilarating as it was exhausting, Myers said. And one that will likely be remembered by the people who survived it.

"There was a feeling of compelling responsibility that comes from knowing people were depending on you," Myers said. "That's the only reason I could think of why an employee would walk a mile in the snow at 4 o'clock in the morning to get to work."

Housing and Residential Education staff also went the extra mile, taking care of snowbound students in residence halls.

"They just did a knockout job under the worst of circumstances," said Dean Bresciani, associate vice chancellor for student services.

Clutch performers

Allen Andrews, Butch Williams' supervisor in facilities, said Williams is the kind of employee who doesn't need to be told when extra effort is needed. He just knows what has to be done and does it.

"He comes in early and stays late and does whatever is needed," Andrews said. "Whenever there is an emergency, all you need to do is call him and he'll come."

And on Tuesday morning, Andrews didn't have to call. Williams is a volunteer fireman with a four-wheel drive truck, Andrews said. Coming through in the clutch is just part of who Williams is. "He always goes beyond the call of duty to help anyone, anywhere he can," Andrews said.

Employees' strong response didn't surprise Runberg.

"They've done it before, with (Hurricane) Fran and other minor incidents," Runberg said. "This is not out of the ordinary for them. We really have a bunch of loyal and dedicated employees."

For the record

Feb. 23 addendum - Forty-three of Carolina's cogeneration Facility employees worked around the clock to keep campus buildings warm and the power on when the University closed because of snow Jan. 25-27. Some came from as far away as Roxboro.

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