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GOLDEN SHOVELS: Declaring a state of emergency during the recent snowstorm not only made the District eligible to apply for federal funding to help pay the cost of clearing streets. It also allowed the government to bypass normal contracting and procurement laws. That point was emphasized by D.C. Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Jo-Ellen Countee when yours truly inquired about the details of that widely publicized purchase of 1,000 snow shovels for volunteers to help clear snow at public schools.

We're still waiting to find out the cost for the emergency purchase, as well as which city line item took the financial hit. The shovels, according to volunteer coordinator Deborah Gist, were distributed to the schools and to the Department of Human Services and the Department of Parks and Recreation.

LATE ARRIVAL: With rain on the horizon and temperatures rising above freezing to help melt the snow, the District's Department of Public Works took delivery of a $140,000 snowmelter on the evening of Feb. 20. The new toy, a refurbished 1998 Trecan 40-PD that arrived on a flatbed truck from Nova Scotia, can reduce 40 tons of snow per hour into running water and steam - eliminating the need for large areas to dump piles of snow removed from city streets.

Unfortunately, plans to trot out the new machine for news media photo ops were delayed when its drive shaft broke during a trial run soon after its arrival, according to DPW spokeswoman Mary Myers. Myers said the problem required a detour to a Northern Virginia machine shop, which fashioned a new part.

With any luck, the District will have to wait for another snowy winter to give the snowmelter its first real test.

WEARY CREW: The District's "Snow Team" - plow drivers, mechanics, salt loaders, parking officers, crane operators and support staff - worked between 60 and 72 hours last week, with some sleeping on folding cots between 12-hour shifts, to clear 1,100 miles of snowy D.C. streets, DPW's Myers reports.

At the height of the cleanup effort, 300 trucks and 450 city employees were on the job. Myers said "a small percentage" of the plowing was done by contractors - including VMS, which is responsible this winter for clearing the District's 75 miles of federal roadways under a D.C. contract paid for with federal funds that had been earmarked for the abandoned Barney Circle freeway project.

Myers said the District had spent about $3.7 million this year on snow removal efforts before last week's storm. Estimates for last week's cleanup costs were unavailable at press time.