PSU gets serious about Lot Maintanance

Lot maintenance is an important part of winter maintenance and safety on campus. The routine of shifting cars and plowing the lots has always been in existence, however this year, Physical Plant and University Police are more serious than ever about students moving their cars on time. Lot maintenance technically began on Dec. 1 this year, but due to the lack of snow, the first round of lot maintenance will occur after the first two inches of snowfall. Students are required to move their cars a half an hour before the beginning of their lot maintenance time, and move them back hopefully within a half an hour after lot maintenance is finished. This year Physical Plant stressed the importance of lot maintenance more than ever before. There have been notifications on the MyPlymouth portal, e-mails with the schedule sent out, as well as sandwich boards with the schedule in each residence hall. The reason for the number of notifications is that so many students did not move their cars in the past, or claimed that they did not know when lot maintenance occurred. However, despite the amount of snow that has fallen, Physical Plant Business Operations Manager Kelli Kemery reminds students that lot maintenance is not just for kicks. “It’s easy to forget that it’s for safety reasons,” Kemery said. It is because of the safety issue that both Physical Plant and University police will be towing vehicles from the very beginning of the lot maintenance season. Ground Operations and Transportation Manager Jim Vossberg said “even one or two cars can mess up the plowing.” In previous years, tickets were given to students did not move their cars, but because the snow built up around the unmoved cars, the safety of the lots kept getting worse. For this reason, Vossberg said that they are planning to tow vehicles “right off the bat.” There will not be warnings and tickets as there were in previous years. Chief of UPD Creig Doyle said, “University police will be very aggressive with towing from the beginning.” Physical Plant has tried to combat issues that have arisen over the years by raising awareness about the occurrence of lot maintenance as well as providing solutions. For those students who have class during their lot maintenance time, cars can always be moved well in advance, as long as the cars are moved back to the appropriate lot early in the afternoon of that day. It is recognized that there will be challenges this winter in regards to cars getting stuck, especially in the dirt temporary lot. Vossberg assures that if students are stuck, they can always call Physical Plant for help getting unstuck. “[Customer service] is very important,” Vossberg said. “Without the students, we don’t work. You’re our top priority. For more information about lot maintenance students can always check MyPlymouth. There is also a 24-hour help line provided for students whose cars are stuck at 535-2254.