MCI TWR CTLR CHRONICLES DIFFICULT EVENING SHIFT WITH VERY LOW STAFFING ALONG WITH NON STANDARD TMC RELEASE PROCS DURING DEICING OPS.

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OUR STAFFING LEVELS WERE VERY LOW (WE NO LONGER HAVE A PRESCRIBED NUMBER OF CTLRS AS WE HAD IN THE PAST). I RPTED TO THE TWR TO BEGIN WORKING LCL W CTL. WE WERE ON AN UNUSUAL FLOW (W) DUE TO VERY STRONG WINDS OUT OF THE W; NW; WHICH PRECLUDED OUR USE OF THE NS PARALLEL RWYS FOR ANYTHING OTHER THAN A FEW DEPS. WE WERE IN 'DEICING' CONDITIONS AS WELL HAVING RECEIVED SEVERAL PLT RPTS ON TURB AND SOME WINDSHEAR. OUR TWR STAFFING WAS ONLY 3 WITH MY ARR. IDEALLY; WE TRY TO STAFF THE TWR WITH 5 DURING THESE KIND OF CONDITIONS SO THAT WE CAN HAVE 4 POS OPEN. THE GND CTLR WAS COMBINED WITH CLRNC DELIVERY AND SC; MAKING THAT JOB EVEN MORE TASK ORIENTED RATHER THAN BEING ABLE TO FOCUS ON THE SEPARATION OF THEIR GND TFC. ON TOP OF THAT; TMU WAS REQUIRING THAT WE 'CALL FOR RELEASE' EVEN THOUGH WE WERE IN DEICING CONDITIONS WHICH OUR DEICING ORDER DICTATES THAT WE JUST GIVE TMU A COURTESY CALL TO LET THEM KNOW ANOTHER ACFT FOR THE DESIGNATED ARPTS IS ABOUT TO ENTER THE SYS. THAT IN ITSELF COULD PRESENT A PROB DURING KNOWN ICING CONDITIONS. I TOOK A QUICK BREAK AS THE OTHER CTLR'S SHIFT WAS OVER AND THAT WOULD LEAVE ONLY 2 CTLRS IN THE TWR; PERIOD. WHILE WORKING GND; CLRNC; AND THE IN CHARGE POS; I NOTIFIED THE SUPVR IN CHARGE OF THE TRACON OP THAT WE WERE HAVING A DISCREPANCY WITH TMU ABOUT THE RELEASES. AT THAT TIME HE REALIZED THAT OUR TWR STAFFING WAS ONLY 2 AND HE CAME UP TO THE TWR TO ASSIST AS WELL AS SHIFTING THE ALREADY LOW STAFFING IN THE TRACON SO THAT WE COULD HAVE A 3RD PERSON IN THE TWR FOR BREAKS. THE SHORT STAFFING CONTINUED FOR THE DURATION OF THE EVENING EVEN THOUGH WE HAD STEADY TFC SINCE WE WERE ON A 1 RWY OP. THE STRONG WINDS AND ONLY 1 RWY BASICALLY IN USE; INCREASED THE COMPLEXITY OF NOT ONLY THE TWR'S OPS; BUT THE RADAR ROOM'S OPS AS WELL. THE UNUSUAL FLOW CONFIGN (W) IS A CONFIGN THAT WE ARE NOT AS FAMILIAR WITH; SO PROCS CAN BE CONFUSING. IT ALWAYS HELPS TO HAVE OTHER CTLRS STAFFING THE SC POS DURING THIS TYPE OF CONFIGN TO ASSIST LCL; GND; AND CLRNC DELIVERY WITH THOSE PRESCRIBED PROCS. SEVERAL TIMES WHILE I WAS WORKING GND; CLRNC; AND SC (ANSWERING PHONES; TALKING TO TMU ABOUT RELEASES; ETC) I HAD TO ADVISE PLTS REQUESTING CLRNCS TO 'STAND BY' AS I WAS UNABLE TO DO ALL MY REQUIRED DUTIES AT ONCE. MANAGING MY GND TFC AND ENSURING THAT I WAS FOLLOWING PRESCRIBED PROCS WAS FOREMOST IN MY PRIORITIES. I BELIEVE THAT STAFFING NUMBERS WERE UNACCEPTABLE FOR THIS TYPE OF OP. AND FURTHERMORE; THE REQUIREMENT FOR US TO 'CALL FOR RELEASE' DURING DEICING CONDITIONS WAS ALSO UNSAFE IN THE EVENT THAT A RELEASE TIME WAS BEYOND THE TIME LIMIT FOR AN ACFT'S DEICING FLUID. IT CONTRADICTED THE ESTABLISHED PROC DURING DEICING CONDITIONS.