Winter, as you might imagine, is a busy time for the Road Crew in Spirit Lake East.

Weather tracking, planning, budget proposals + approvals and coordination are needed to lead the management of our roads.

As Road Chair / Superintendent of our 30 miles of roads—that’s 60 lane miles to be maintained here in Spirit Lake East—I’m charged with running the program including all projects, plans, expenditures and equipment repairs + maintenance.

In winter, that includes coordinating with the Road Crew plowing, sand purchases, trucking + distribution as well as communication with the HOA Board of Directors and community of 300+ homeowners (proactive + reactive).

Residents need to know when plowing and sanding will be (or once it has been) done. If there are conditions that we need to work through or may require us to wait to sand again while the weather changes, I’m in charge of delivering that news.

There are many aspects to this volunteer position and homeowner communication can often be the most complex. Leadership, management and public speaking skills are also required to report on the roads + interact with the public at semi-annual meetings.

It’s no different than running construction projects and collaborating with teams, subs, clients and investors, except there are more people and opinions to contend with (and a lot less budget) than ever before, even on the largest of builds that I’ve run over the years!

But, winter is just the start of our busy season. Then, comes spring cleanup. To learn more about this phase, see the Spring Roads Management page HERE.