This time around, Redmond was ready.

The City of Redmond executed an effective storm plan when snow, ice and winds hit the region last week, a notable improvement from the city’s response during the 2008 snow storm, according to residents and city officials.

The city was hit hard with complaints about its storm response in December 2008, prompting city officials to revise and update its storm plan in early 2009. The plan added more snow removal equipment, upgraded the existing snow plows, modified procedures and used an earth-friendly de-icing solution to combat the snowy and icy conditions.

“This was by far the best coverage in the 35 years that I have lived here,” said City Council member Hank Myers, who lives in the south end of Redmond. “There have been times when it took five or more days before our hill was passable. Given that we get snow so infrequently, our public works department did a superb job.”

Redmond Mayor and Education Hill resident John Marchione admitted the city didn’t do the best job of snow removal in 2008 and he heard about it as he said he received more than 100 complaints. But the city improved its snow response operations and that made a difference during the recent storm. The mayor said he has received only one complaint following the recent snow-ice-wind-pocalypse.

Many residents were satisfied with the city’s storm response, including Susan Mathews, who lives on Northeast 74th Street, just down the hill from Rose Hill Junior High School.

“I very much appreciated the city’s snow response and recovery efforts,” she said. “I didn’t venture into the downtown Redmond area during the snow days, but the city always is quick to plow our road as we live on a curvy hill that gets quite a bit of traffic. I don’t have any suggestions for improvements as they did a fantastic job from my perspective.”

The city’s public works street operations division worked two 12-hour shifts from Jan. 15-19 with eight people in each crew, according to Bert Guenther, public works operation manger for the City of Redmond.

The city used four snow plows outfitted with the deicing solution, along with a smaller plow to remove the snow from roads. The snow plan used a priority system, plowing the main roads first then clearing the secondary and neighborhood arterials, said Guenther.

“After the 2008 storm, the city committed to upgrading both operations and add one additional plow,” he said. “The city also put a greater emphasis on its deicer program.”

In addition, the city and county informed residents about road conditions during the storms through online alerts and Twitter feeds — something many residents appreciated.

“As a Redmond resident, I felt informed about what the roads were like with the city’s live traffic cameras on the City of Redmond’s website,” said downtown resident Marsha McKernan.

Redmond Police Commander Mark Hagreen, who is in charge of the city’s Office of Emergency Management, said there were no injuries in the city despite Mother Nature wreaking havoc on roads and wooded areas. Hagreen pointed out that many trees fell and there were a lot of people getting stuck on the roadways. But he did point out that that people did a good job of staying off the roads, allowing the city to clear snow off the roads and get things back to normal.

Now the focus turns to clean up and cost estimations of the response efforts, Hagreen said.The city is working on a preliminary price estimate — with the biggest cost being overtime — and will forward that to the county by Feb. 2, Hagreen said.

King County also worked around the clock clearing roads of snow and debris in unincorporated King County outside of Redmond city limits, according Carter Reeve, King County Department of Transportation (KCDOT) Division I maintenance operations manger.

Similar to the city, the county used the twice-a-day, 12-hour shift model, but reduced resources put the focus for snow removal on the main arterials, Reeve said.

The county used two, sometimes three snow plows and one deicer to clear the Division I area, which stretches from Richmond Beach east to Snoqualimie Valley and south from the Snohomish County line down to Redmond and Kirkland unincorporated areas.

KCDOT had four snow plows for Division I back in 2008, but the number of plows were cut in half last year due to county budget reductions, Reeve said.

“We do have reduced resources,” Reeve said. “The budget cuts have impacted us. We focused on the main arterials.”

Redmond Ridge, along with Novelty Hill, Union Hill and Avondale roads were hit the hardest, according to Reeve.

Many people in the higher elevations were snowed in because the county snow plows cleared the main roads first and couldn’t get to the side roads right away, according to Redmond Ridge resident Marylou Roels. Roels said she heard a lot of complaints from her neighbors about the snowed-covered roads.

“On the surface of course, everyone is bent out of shape because they feel King County Roads do not do their job of cleaning the roads and making the area mobile, leaving Redmond Ridge and Trilogy stranded,” Roels said.

The county has a priority-based snow and ice plan, but “we don’t have the resources to deal with neighborhood roads,” said KCDOT spokesperson Rochelle Ogershok.

Roels said she understands the challenges the county faced during the storm and that workers did a good job, considering the many miles of roads they had to clear with a limited number of plows.

“So while it was inconvenient for many of us and families were forced to take a snow day (or three), I suggest taking out a pen and paper and jotting a little note of thanks to the guys that were out there for 12 hour days trying to clean up 1,600 miles of road,” Roels said.

King County is now working to assess the damage and has set up a website and hotline number, 1-800-523-5044, for residents and businesses to submit a damage report. Providing a damage report will help the county “look into programs that can provide assistance,” according to Hilman Mitchell, the director of the Office of Emergency Management for King County.

Mithcell also encouraged residents to properly dispose of debris.

“We don’t want people dumping wooded material,” he said. “That can plug storm drains. It’s important that people properly dispose of debris.”