A Jamestown Public Works Department driver plowing Clark Avenue on the west side of the city earlier this year. P-J photo by Dennis Phillips

The city’s Public Works Department was prepared for the additional snow that fell overnight following last week’s first snow storm of December.

On Wednesday, Jeffrey Lehman, city public works director, said the Public Works Department was prepared for the start of winter storm No. 2 this month, which started Wednesday evening.

On Tuesday, the National Weather Service out of Buffalo issued a lake effect snow warning for Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties. The warning, as of Wednesday afternoon, was from 7 p.m. Wednesday to 7 a.m. Friday. Accumulations predicted included 5-9 inches Wednesday night, 3-6 inches Thursday and 2-4 inches Thursday night. Also, an inch or less is expected Friday.

”We are on winter split shifts and we will call in personnel as needed,” Lehman said. ”The snow from last week makes it more difficult as we have less room to push the new snow.”

Lehman said crews have been removing snow from the first storm from critical areas like bridges, downtown, heavily traveled highways and certain areas with visibility issues. He said the snow is being removed from city streets and being dumped on city property on Fluvanna Avenue.

”(We do it for) safe pedestrian and motorist travel in the downtown and citywide. (This) gives us more room to push new snow,” he said.

Despite budget issues for the city, Lehman said the snow removal budget for the rest of 2016 is in good shape because of the mild winter at the start of the year and the late start to snow fall this December.

”So far, we are OK with a little over two weeks to go in the 2016 budget,” he said. ”This is due to the light winter last year and the mild winter we had up until last week.”

Lehman said there are three snow plowing shifts for the city. Shift one is from 6 a.m. to 2:30 pm., which consists of 18 men; shift two is from 2-10 p.m., with three employees; and shift three is from 10 p.m. to 6:30 a.m., which is a 14-man crew.

”Personnel can be brought in for an additional four hours to add to their eight-hour shift, which in theory affords us 24-hour coverage,” Lehman said. ”The issue that we have is if personnel are sick or on vacation, it leaves us a shortage of manpower.”

Lehman said there are 12 designated plow routes and they have plows that work the main streets. Also, the Public Works Department runs two salt trucks that are only for salting highways.