Snow Removal Policies
With Carthage located on the shores of Lake Michigan, snow and snow storms are a fact of life. The following is the College's plan for removal of snow and maintaining a safe environment.Carthage College Security personnel will monitor the condition of the campus drives and lots. Upon a sufficient accumulation of snow, the Security Office will contact the head groundskeeper. This will result in Carthage personnel reporting to work as soon as possible to begin snow plowing procedures. Any accumulation that does not block roads or lots will result in crews reporting to work at 5:00 AM to begin snow plowing procedures.
During a snow storm, crews will attempt to maintain the campus drives only. Parking lots will be plowed only after the storm has ended.
During plowing activities, any vehicle parked or abandoned on a campus drive, in a fire lane, or otherwise illegally parked and interfering with plowing activities, is subject to immediate tow, without warning and at the owners expense.
The plowing areas, in order of priority and scheduling are:
- Campus main drives
- Sidewalks from residence halls and commuter lots to the academic buildings.
- Commuting student and employee
- Residential and unrestricted parking lots.
- Secondary walks and service drives
- Clean up, additional hand salting
- Campus houses
Should the accumulation of snow become large enough that normal plowing will not adequately clear areas, Carthage may declare a snow removal emergency. During a snow removal emergency and upon notification via posters and announcements placed in the Todd Wehr Center and the five residence halls, students will be asked to move their vehicles in a specified order from lots to allow for a clean removal of all snow. The notifications will identify the alternative parking location for that day and the sequence of lots to be cleared. During a snow emergency vehicles remaining in lots that are scheduled to be cleared, are subject to tow at the owners expense. At the very least, these vehicles risk being stranded in snow drifts due to plowing activities.
Carthage personnel will make all attempts to maintain a drivable path for vehicles through our lots and campus drives. For safety considerations they must stay a safe distance from parked vehicles while plowing. Carthage personnel are not responsible for removing snow from a parked vehicle. Snow shovels may be checked out by students at the Todd Wehr Center Office to assist in clearing the snow around their vehicle. Jumper cables are also available for check out at the Todd Wehr Center. Due to insurance liability Carthage personnel are not allowed to jump start non College vehicles.