HERMANN — It was a week that many would like to forget. But for Gasconade County government administrators and the crews of the county’s Road Department, it’s best to remember how tough it was in order to prepare for the next Arctic blast that leaves local roads impassable and multiple motorists in the ditches — sometimes for several hours at a time.

“I got an earful from a lot of constituents,” said Presiding Commissioner Tim Schulte, R-Hermann, at Thursday morning’s weekly session, much of which was dedicated to a discussion of the severe weather conditions during the past few days and the county’s efforts to keep the local roads open — a task that proved virtually impossible as a layer of ice covered a thin blanket of snow followed by rain that turned the grave roads into a muddy mess.

Former Presiding Commissioner Larry Miskel often said there are two seasons when it comes to the county’s road system: Dust Season and Mud Season. Two days after the bad weather moved out and the sun finally broke through, Gasconade Countians continue to maneuver through the muck and mud, both on their driveways and on parts of some of the county roads.

“It was a rough two days,” added Southern District Associate Commissioner Jerry Lairmore, R-Owensville, referring to Monday and Tuesday of last week, when the worst of the winter weather hit the area. “You just can’t pre-treat gravel roads,” he said, responding to the many questions voiced by county residents living along the 400-plus miles of gravel roads.

Conditions especially were bad in the very southern end of the county. Lairmore pointed out that on Blue House Road, several motorists slid off and were kept in their cars for hours. He said eight or 10 cars went off the road with the occupants stranded for six or eight hours. He was on the scene, along with Sheriff Scott Eiler, to assess the situation.

Crews of the county’s Road Department spent many hours doing what they could to keep the roads open — even at a risk to the employees’ own safety. Indeed, Lairmore noted that one employee fell twice and is now recovering from a concussion received in one of those falls.

Northern District Associate Commissioner Jim Holland, R-Hermann, said a neighboring county sent one of its road graders out — apparently to try and scrape ice from the roads — only to have it slide into a ditch.

“That’s a $175,000 piece of equipment,” Holland pointed out.

The Northern District commissioner said he soon found out that travel was not advisable early in the week when he tried to get out to feed his cattle.

“No one needed to be on the roads,” he said.

But, as Lairmore said, there were some who had to be out — primarily the Road Department workers, who soon discovered there was little they could do.

“There was so much ice, there was nothing we could do,” Holland said. “We couldn’t put these folks in peril,” he added.

The day after the ice hit — and before the rain fell — road crews were able to get cinders placed on county roads. But not until the complaints had mounted from residents wondering why their roads were not receiving a treatment. Schulte explained that the cindering process was slowed by the road crews have to “back spread” the cinders.

That is, drivers were having to travel in reverse to spread the cinders, putting down a coating that allowed the trucks to get traction, especially on hills. That meant going much slower than if they could spread in the normal manner.

“The guys had to back spread everything,” Schulte said. “That’s what took so long,” he explained.

Also, administrators said, the department quickly discovered that using pickup trucks to spread was more effective than using larger trucks.

Lairmore said the Commission and the Road Department need to learn the lessons from this winter storm. One of which, he said, is recognizing the need to have a supply of cinders on hand. “We’ve got to get some sheds to cover these cinders,” he said.

The discussions of this winter storm’s effects will continue long after the roads dry out. “We’ve got a lot of things to talk about,” Lairmore said. “This one was bad,” he added.