Lone city plow truck breaks amid snow

FENNVILLE, Mich. (WOOD) - Call it a bad case of bad timing: a West Michigan city's only plow broke down in the midst of the biggest snowfall of the season.

Now, Fennville officials are scrambling to use other resources to keep the roads plowed.

City officials weren't pleased when a fairly new truck that they rely on almost exclusively was relegated to the garage in what should be its prime plowing time.

Fennville is a small city on a small budget. It has always had just one plow.

"Budgets are tight right now," said Fennville Public Works superintendent Gary Tuhacek.

This year, in the middle of the season's first major snowfall, the truck failed.

"My operator came in and he says, 'There's something wrong with the truck,'" Tuhacek recounted.

Then the repair shop had bad news: It's not going to be a quick fix.

"These things, they only break when you start using them," said Tuhacek.

The city has workarounds. A couple of regular truck plows not really designed for clearing roads are in use and the Allegan County Road Commission has stepped in to help.

"So far it's working okay. We're keeping up," said Tuhacek.

It's not the city's first equipment failure at just the wrong time as of late.

"The Murphy's law hit us again Christmas Day. We had our first water main break in about a year and a half on Christmas Day," said Tuhacek.

It will be four days before the truck is back in service. By that time, temperatures are forecasted to be a bit warmer.