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Inclement Weather Event Narrative

All Day Closure/Delayed Opening

*For weather conditions that are forecasted in advance, the Facilities Management Designee (FMD) will set up a stakeholder briefing at 8PM on the night preceding the event on Zoom/Teams.

  1. The on duty Public Safety Officer will notify the Facilities Management Designee (FMD) as soon as conditions deteriorate at/or before 4 am and advise of the site conditions on the Gresham campus.
  2. FMD review the local news for developing weather conditions, forecasts, local school district closures, and the Public Safety Officer report. FMD or management team member will perform campus site visit to visually verify conditions.
  3. The FMD will set up a conference call with the President (or designee) and Public Information Officer (PIO) at 4:15 am to advise of weather and campus conditions, local school closure information, and provide a recommendation to remain open as scheduled, delay opening, or close for business. Ideally, the decision will be made on the conference call.  If needed, the President or designee may consult with local school leaders or the President’s Cabinet, with a decision no later than 4:30 am.
  4. The PIO will send out communications no later than 4:45 am for a “RAVE Emergency Alert” message and/or a mass email message to all staff, students and the media, post notices on social media, and arrange for a web posting and telephone recording with information about MHCC’s status. A “Flash Alert” message needs to go out no later than 4:55 am so that local news outlets can pick it up and broadcast the message.
  5. The FMD will call the on-duty Public Safety officer, Head Start, and Dean of HPE no later than 4:45 am with the decision of the President, RAVE message to essential personnel, and email to [email protected]
  6. Facilities will implement the Inclement Weather team coordination and phased prioritization map (If needed), with activities lead out of the Facilities Conference Room (161).
  7. Public Safety will install cones and implement closure process as directed. For Snow/Ice Phase 2, 3, and stairwell areas closure as requested by the FMD.
  8. FMD will monitor Trimet notifications of closure @ https://trimet.org/#alerts/
  9. Maintain communications with City of Gresham Emergency management team as needed for public sidewalk and road clearing, 503-618-2567

Please note:

  • The hours listed are for ideal scenarios. Weather is unpredictable, and the college responds as quickly as possible.
  • These procedures follow Incident Command System standard practices. It is assumed that during weather emergency events the Facilities Management Designee will acts as Incident Commander. Provide updates on ICS form 214 for the event.

Work Day/Evening - Early Closure

  1. Facilities Management Designee (FMD) will notify the President (or designee) prior to 3 pm of the deteriorating site conditions with a recommendation to remain open as scheduled, delay closure, or close for business.
  2. The President may consult with Cabinet members and/or local school district leaders.
  3. President should call the FMD no later than 4 pm with a decision.
  4. The FMD will activate the same phone tree as for the All Day Closure/Delayed Opening process, and the PIO will implement the same communication actions.
  5. Designated waiting areas for transportation: NC = Library lobby, SC = HPE Lobby

Other Considerations

  1. College Closure
    1. The College will not require faculty to work during a total college-wide closure except due to unique exceptions. Make-up days for faculty will occur as stated in Article 9.6.k.
    2. In situations where specific areas of campus are closed due to short-term issues, the affected faculty will not be required to change teaching modality.
    3. In the event that face-to-face classes need to be transitioned to an online/remote modality:
    4. The College will provide a minimum of five (5) working days to allow faculty to prepare
    5. Before classes restart. This will result in finals week being used as a week of instruction if the faculty member determines it necessary. Faculty members should ensure that their syllabi inform students of this possible schedule change.
  2. Aquatic Center employees start showing up at 5:00 am. An early notification or prior evening is helpful.
  3. HPE Team events may be offsite and continue on a case-by-case basis.
  4. Head Start decides what sites are open since they cover the city. All sites on college campuses follow campus closure direction.
  5. Head Start transportation – early closure. Gate closure could be problematic. The buses or food service trucks may need to get back on campus and secured. In route to College, driver will call public safety to unlock the gate. Gate E is the last gate to be closed.
  6. When IT puts up an Inclement Weather notification to let students know we are closed or will have a late start, we will stop the slider so that if they go to the web site that is the only slider message they see – the other slider messages will not rotate. This is proposed so that if students/staff glance at the MHCC web site from their cell phones while in route, getting on a bus, etc., they will see this important information and will not miss it if the sliders are rotating and they only check quickly.  At noon (or somewhere around there), the sliders would begin rotating again including the inclement weather message.
  7. Clear all stalls before locking restrooms.
  8. Outside training or classes notifications prior to weather event – Gabriel Logan, Dawn Loomis, Kay Lopez, Fisheries, Sherri Pruett, Kimberly Murray, VA, Ceramics,

Facilities Team Planning and Implementation

  • Day before event plans
    • Fall inventory of deicer, tools, equipment
    • Winterizing preps by teams in Oct/Nov
    • FMD will consult on whether or not the following are needed and provide notification by 3PM
      • Should liquid deicer be placed on main roadways for pre-treatment of ice?
      • Dayshift / Swingshift custodial and Facilities assist with closure lockdown and preparations.
    • Upon activation of the Inclement Weather processes above, the Facilities Conference Room will be the gathering point for all team members, with the map and action plan status available.
    • The FMD will staff the Facilities Conference Room and has operational control of all resources, gather updates from the team members on phase completion, and send updates out to the management team on phase completion status.
    • Phased approach (map) will be followed by the team:
      • Mark stairs and walkways for safe and cleared travel paths. If an area is unsafe, team may close to prevent injuries.
      • Grounds team will attack Phase 1 parking lots on assigned map first, and then dispatch one truck to Maywood Park. Campus remaining vehicles will address Phase 2 and 3. (Bruning is handled by GBSD, Alan Casper)
      • Plant Ops / Maintenance will address Phase 1 sidewalks starting at Aquatics, HPE, then sidewalks back toward VA and IT.
      • Custodial will start at the flags and main mall, then address sidewalks and travel paths North through the mall toward ECC, then back towards IT and meet up with the other teams.
    • If snow load is over 1 foot, clearing around units, skylights, access on roofs may needed.
    • Academic Center South facing upstairs areas may need clearing.