County under fire for delayed plowing after holiday snow

A Thanksgiving snowfall that many area residents viewed initially as a “winter wonderland” quickly turned into countywide frustration and anger as many county roads remained unplowed well into Friday after a snowfall that dumped about 7.2 inches on the Minocqua area Wednesday evening and Thursday, Nov. 26 and 27.

In the Minocqua area alone, NOAA reported snow totaling 2.8 inches on Wednesday, Nov. 26, and 4.4 inches on Thursday — most of that by noon — with snow continuing into Friday, when another 2.6 inches was added.

The problem was, while most town roads across the county were plowed, much of that snow remained on county roads throughout Thursday and well into Friday — two of the busiest travel days of the year — creating dangerous road conditions and prompting widespread complaints from motorists.

Snow-covered, icy roadways stretched from Minocqua to Three Lakes, down to Lincoln County, westward to Price County, east to Forest County, and to areas in between. 

Oneida County highway commissioner Alex Hegeman said a perfect storm of equipment failure, a lack of any accumulating snow in the forecast on Thursday morning, inexperience among newer employees and efforts to limit holiday and overtime pay contributed to the department’s calamitous response on Nov. 27 and 28.

“Several factors led to the winter maintenance issues that were experienced,” Hegeman told the Times. “On Nov. 27, all the plow trucks were called out early. The truck on Hwy. 70 left the Minocqua shop at 4:20 a.m. and made two rounds plowing and salting, finishing up around 9 a.m. with nine tons of salt used.” 

At that time, Hegeman said, there was no forecasted snow accumulation. The forecast aside, while the plowing may have wrapped up by 9 in the morning, the snow did not, continuing at what one social media poster called “a pretty good pace” throughout Thanksgiving Day.

In addition, Hegeman said, an equipment disaster struck. 

“We were experiencing some lake effect snow and we had hoped that the de-icing material used would have kept the road in decent shape,” he said. “During the second round of plowing, a hydraulic fitting broke on the underbody plow causing this plow to become inoperable.”

The next day, on Nov. 28, a mechanic left the Rhinelander shop around 8 a.m. to repair the broken hydraulic fitting on the underbody, Hegeman said. However, complaints began to come in, and the highway commissioner said further action was taken.

“After receiving several complaints on the conditions of roads throughout Oneida County, all drivers were called out around 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 28,” he said. “The Hwy. 70 truck left the Minocqua shop around 11:20 a.m. This truck made one round plowing and salting using seven tons of salt.”

Now, for the rest of the story

Besides equipment failure, Hegeman said inexperience among staff played a role in the timing and effectiveness of the response.

“With many staff in the first or second year of their roles, the inexperience of our department showed over the long weekend, and proved there is still significant training required,” he said.

Hegeman said he was also keeping an eye on the county’s bottom line financially, and that was a factor in staff scheduling.

“The Oneida County Highway Department strives for the efficient use of all taxpayer dollars, whether state or county,” he said. “Every storm is different and each storm hits parts of Oneida County differently. At times, decisions to bring the drivers out will be made too soon or too late in a winter event.”

Hegeman said his department works to minimize holiday pay and overtime pay when practicable. 

“The highway department is always looking for a way to find that balance between providing the highest level of service while also being cognizant of budget and environmental restraints,” he said.

The highway commissioner said he took responsibility for the department’s performance.

“As the department head and Oneida County highway commissioner, I take responsibility for not putting my staff in the best scenario to succeed and for the poor road conditions that our citizens and visitors had to endure,” Hegeman said.

Misery loves company, and miserable motorists weren’t alone. Oneida County’s elected officials weren’t happy, either, and said that a discussion about what happened and about how to prevent it from happening again would take place. 

Supervisor Billy Fried, who represents the town of Minocqua on the county board and serves as chairman of the county’s executive committee, said on Friday, Nov. 28, that he and another Minocqua area county supervisor, Bob Almekinder, had been in touch with Hegeman and public works committee chairman Ted Cushing about the poor road conditions.

“Circumstances led to the condition of Hwy 70, equipment breakdown being the main factor,” Fried said Friday morning. “Crews have been dispatched this morning to address Hwy. 70.”

Fried said the matter would definitely be a topic of conversation at next week’s public works committee meeting.

“The criticism of the conditions over the past 24 hours has merit and not what we as elected officials expect, and we will work with the committee and department to improve,” Fried said. “There will be more challenges ahead as every snowfall brings different scenarios. … Safety is priority number 1, and we understand that a holiday weekend is not a good time to have failures.”

This week, county board chairman Scott Holewinski also said the matter would be taken up at next week’s public works meeting and not during any closed session.

“The winter maintenance issues that happened on Nov. 27, 2025, and Nov. 28, 2025, will be discussed in open session and hopefully the policies will be addressed so that the primary goal is safety for travelers on our roads, dealing with changing weather conditions that don’t seem to line up with scheduled work hours and budgets,” he said.

Social media

On social media, complaints piled up as fast as the unplowed snow. Criticism poured in from travelers trying to navigate Oneida County roads Thanksgiving Day and Friday, with dozens of commenters describing slippery stretches, icy curves, and a lack of visible plow presence, and not just in Minocqua but countywide.

Drivers reported that conditions shifted dramatically at county lines. For example, many said the transition from Price County into Oneida County was immediate.

“Oneida messed up this time,” one Facebook poster wrote. “Went through Minocqua yesterday and today and the roads were not good. Not even town was done. Icy even on the curves. No salt or sand.”

Another poster noticed the same thing when driving from Park Falls to Minocqua, and there was no relief on the other side of Minocqua, either, according to another poster.

“Same going from Forest to Oneida,” the post stated. “For anybody not from the area, [they] are in for a very scary awakening when they hit Oneida Co. Thankful I live in Forest Co. These guys rock!”

Yet another poster agreed: “We went to Minocqua today and thought the same thing. Those counties could take some lessons on winter road maintenance!”

And ditto heading south.

“The second we hit Lincoln county, (I know the county lines — I grew up there) the roads were great — in Lincoln county!” a poster commented. “I checked the roads all day. Someone mentioned an accident; finally, they salted, and the roads were good.”

Others wondered where the country crews were.

“Oneida was horrible today,” a poster wrote. “Had to do a lot of driving and I didn’t see one plow truck.”

Hegeman said the highway department would be reviewing its winter procedures closely.

“The highway department is going to focus on several items to ensure incidents like this are not repeated,” he said. “Improvements will include more extensive communication between management and on-call supervisors before, during, and after storm events; departmental ‘debriefings’ after each storm; and continued efforts to update the plow-truck fleet and maintain reliable backup equipment.” 

Internal discussions were already underway, he said, as the department works to “provide a better level of service for all road users within our county.”

Richard Moore is the author of “Dark State” and may be reached at richardd3d.substack.com.