The mild December weather had Cape Girardeau street crews smiling.

Last year by this time the area already had suffered through a major winter storm. Another winter storm struck in early January as street crews scrambled to clear streets of snow and ice.

Kevin McMeel, assistant public works director who heads the city's street and fleet department, said the city is prepared for winter storms, but the mild weather has saved the city thousands of dollars.

McMeel said the city spent more than $44,000 between Dec. 22, 1990, and Jan. 7, 1991, for sand, salt, fuel and labor to remove snow and ice in the aftermath of the two storms.

"Some of the labor cost would be incurred regardless of the storms, but $20,000 to $30,000 of that could be attributed directly to snow and ice removal," he said.

"Last year we took a little more aggressive approach to the sand-and-salt spreading to try to get out there and take care of the problem in as short a time as possible."

McMeel, who began working for the city in November, said the city will continue an aggressive street-clearing policy should January and February bring winter storms to the area.

He said sand and salt are on reserve and the city's five spreader boxes have been checked and prepared for use.

"We usually buy about 100 tons of salt a year," he said. "That's the same every year. If we don't use it all in a year, we just stockpile it until the next year.

"We've also taken out our spreader boxes and hooked them up to check and make sure they work. Once we get them checked out, we're set until we get some snow or ice."

McMeel said he's pleased the weather was mild in December. He moved to Cape Girardeau from Michigan, where, he said, he was all too familiar with the rigors of snow removal.

"In Michigan it snows on Thanksgiving and you see the ground again in April," he said. "Of course, they're also equipped a lot better because they know what to expect."

McMeel said the mild weather saves the city in materials, maintenance and overtime labor costs.

"We don't have to send the crews out in the middle of the night," he said. "And, if we don't have to take the equipment out, obviously it's saving on wear and tear and maintenance costs."

McMeel said winter storms in Southeast Missouri are most likely to strike in January, despite the harsh final weeks of December last year when city crews worked around the clock to clear streets.

When winter weather hits, streets are cleaned on a priority basis. The city is divided into five zones. Crews first clear primary, heavily traveled streets such as Mount Auburn Road, Independence and Broadway.

When those street are cleared, the crews move on to major feeder streets, then to smaller feeder streets, and then to secondary streets.

The city uses a mixture of 10 percent salt and 90 percent sand to spread on slick streets.

Last year at this time, sleds, snow shovels and rock salt were in high demand as most stores' supplies were nearly depleted. Snow-and-ice-covered streets in the city created hazardous driving conditions for motorists and local wrecker service companies were kept busy responding to stranded vehicles.

On Dec. 27, 1990, more than three inches of snow fell on the city, with scattered snow and sleet through the end of December and into early January 1991.