Behind the Headlines

The point: Monroe County is not under an official emergency, but it’s recommended that people follow the guidelines for Lucas County’s Level 3 status.

I just talked with some of the county officials about their reaction to the snow. It was unclear at first if they were going to declare a snow emergency. Technically the only one with the authority to do so is the chairman of the county board, Bill Sisk. He said he usually confers with Emergency Management Director Mitch Yudasz to make the determination. But Mitch didn’t make it to work today, nor did his assistant director Glenda.

Sisk said he wanted to talk to the road commission to figure out what to do about the state of the county, figuring out what shape the roads are in. Ralph Lange, who reportedly stayed the night with the road crews, was the one to determine that it’s not an official state of emergency because he said they didn’t want to start getting into telling people what they can and can’t do as a result of the weather and also because they don’t have that authority anyway.

But this all goes back a few years, as many things in Monroe County do. In 2003, the board talked about establishing a system like Lucas County’s that would help designate the different threat levels to those in the county when snow storms hit.

Apparently recent attempts at making that come to life have been quelled because of city, village and state regulations.