Snow & Ice Balance
It's not a pretty picture!
Rock Salt $88,253.49
Plows & Blades $24,183.35
Fuel $14,984.13
Repairs $10,327.67
PT Payroll $11,368.95
OT Payroll $39,154.56
DT Payroll $16,074.23
And Then...
Can't make this stuff up!
So how did the pole get so close to the road ?? I know Bud could very easily spend a lot more on snow removal if he had the guys push the snow back. South Road, especially on my end is so narrow, you have to stop for a vehicle bigger than a car, and in some spots you have to stop for a car also. How does J.D. know it was a highway plow that did this damage ? Maybe it was one of the three or four rubbish trucks that do business in town ?? This is your Municipal Light Department working for you !! Bev.
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ReplyDeleteLets not forget $14,000.00 for new sidewalk blower attachment.
ReplyDeleteThe only way to keep the kids safe and out of the roads is to clear the sidewalks as soon as possible.The old blower spent as much time in for repairs as out clearing sidewalks and was overdue for replacement.Just like much of the rest of the highway equipment we wonder when it will be unrepairable.
ReplyDeleteThe blower we purchased is a much better unit and can do more quicker.
Just like the 10 wheelers people say we don't need. We can do more snow removal quicker. Larger loader buckets can do more quicker. We have 8 hours per day without overtime to do the needed work. It must be done quicker.
A contractor with a large snow blower could do more in one day than any highway or DPW can do in a week. Perhaps an alternative would be for the dept. to work one week of overtime to remover snow. It could also be a better plan in place when plowing so as to put snow in places where it does not need to be removed. The mention of the new snow blower was for clarity and accountability. Ten wheelers have four more tires and another axle with two more sets of brakes etc. There needs to be a cost benefit demonstrated. For instance, if sand was eliminated from use in winter time, there would go the need to haul it or buy it and there would go the month used to sweep it up and dig it out of drain basins. It is called work smarter rather than harder. It is the plan that is bad and not the workers.
ReplyDeleteEverybody has their opinion and i respect it. But when a contractor is put in the mix control of the outcome is lost.
ReplyDeleteWhen useing a 10 wheeler and a tire blows there is still control and ability to be safe. As far as the brakes it gives the driver 4 times the ability to stop vs a 6 wheeler. We are all bias toward the side we are on but the goal of our highway department is the safety of this town and the people who live and pass through it. We all take that goal very seriously and let nothing stand in the way of it!
This town is lucky we have the dedicated highway help and leadership we have,without it this year would look much different.
Actually, right now the city of Fitchburg is using contractors to haul snow with a blower and trucks and the city has control as they have to sign in and out and are escorted to work sights with a city DPW member. The city has a blower as well and it loaded a contractor truck 4 times in a twelve hour period while the contractor blower loaded a contractor truck 4 times in one hour. When talking of 4 wheels vs. 6 wheels vs 10 wheels, one must consider the total cost as in brakes, tires, more springs or different suspension systems all of which add cost as well as weight going down the road which wears the roads out as well. Remember also when using a loader for snow removal, the loader spends half the time going in reverse! Again, this is about the plan or lack of one and not the workers. When one considers the little time actually spent doing snow removal and hauling sand vs. the extra cost, extra wear and extra maintenance, six wheelers with automatics make far more sense and it should be a consideration of the total costs to the taxpayer. My opinion is if you demonstrate value to the taxpayer, you get support. Think about a street sweeper, costs about a hundred grand and is designed to do only one thing and it sits in a garage for probably 10 months a year unless one does something really dumb like sweep sand up in the middle of the winter just to look busy. Sometime, take the time to figure the total cost of sand for use in the winter; you either buy it or screen it, which means you lease or buy a screen plant, you spend time screening it and hauling it which involves fuel and road wear n tear, you mix it with salt when you put it on the road only to spend a month sweeping it up and digging it out of drain basins then dispose of it properly because it is now not regular sand. And after all this, sand does not melt one snow flake. It does allow people to see it on the road in winter but it does not melt snow or ice. It simply makes a mess and creates work which makes me wonder if we did not have to sweep up the sand in the spring, what would all those pieces of equipment be doing along with the men in them? It is the plan that is bad not the men. Sort of like the Templeton highway dept. buying two waste oil furnaces when they apparently don't generate enough waste oil to keep one going never mind two! at least you care Dave!
ReplyDeleteI've been told the blower cost is in this document. I think all sides have factual info to offer and i respect that. When i plow the hill on grey rd i thank myself for the extrasand i left at the intersection of farnsworth. I would say if i only had salt and no sand i may have a problem getting my 2 drive wheels to grab after plowing off the salt. The reason we do it the way we do is because it works. We can change and do things differently but the experiment may be a lesson we can not afford to learn.
ReplyDeleteIf we only use salt and the temperatures fall like this year will it be effective for treatment? Remember the roads we treat are not sunbathed and are shaded most of the time. The sweeper provides a quick cleanup of road hazards all year round. Many trucks roll through our town and many times we send the sweeper out to clean the hazards from the tucks that spill products on the roads. Without the sweeper the hazards would be greater and a longer cleanup time. The cleanup from winter sand provides the town with fill for the sewer treatment plant. The town would need to purchase the sand for fill either way. What is the lowest temp the salt treatment is effective jeff.
Care yes Jeff i care. This is my town which i pay taxes in and care how they get spent. I find it odd the people who step up to criticize and done pay taxes here. The fact on the waste oil burner is we save more than a person could imagine. It is true we have run out this very cold year but are still far better off on the cost to heat the highway barn. Our cost to heat when the burners are running is close to zero. We would need to send waste oil out at a cost to store and ship. Lets try this for a change Jeff. Give some good ideas and ways to better this town and not cut up what we have done effectively year after year. The plan may be a problem but without suggestions and ideas to save money without sacrificing safety it sound like bashing to me and others.
ReplyDeleteDave I do not pay property taxes here in Templeton but my 82 year old mother does and my ideas / suggestions could save money without sacrifice safety. I do know there have been other years than this one where the town did not have enough waste oil to run one furnace never mind two and that has been the case for well, since the second was bought. As I suggested, do some math and take the time to see what the actual total costs of sand is and has been. want to take a ride on route 12 going thru Ashburnham in a 10 wheel plow truck, a 1991 in fact and I can show you how I go down some significant hill (s) without sand and when the road is plowed until it stops snowing then is salted correctly, you end up with blacktop. When I see a town truck dropping sand, as in 70% sand 30% salt on top of three to 6 inches of snow, I can tell you that is a waste of materials, time and fuel. That is the way it has been done for a long time and that does not make it right nor does it mean it works. Just like a big truck with 10 wheels or 18 wheels does not stop quicker than a six wheel truck, especially when empty, that is right out of the commercial license manual of Massachusetts. Here is something for you to check on, how many times has the grader been broken during the wintertime in the last five years and what part was broken and what was being done when it broke, particularly the belly blade? And Dave, be advised I am not the only one who raises these issues on snow and ice and other things, I just happen to be one who is not afraid to speak on it. I will find the article in the Telegram where a director of a dept. of public works comments on the cost of sand. Again, what would the highway dept. do in the spring if they did not spend a month sweeping sand up and digging it out of drain basins? So that is that and we disagree on this issue. My suggestion is to wash the plow trucks and loaders after every storm using hotwater and soap, then grease them and as soon as it is warm like mid April or may, paint the dump bodies and the plows, they will last longer and look better so residents don't drive by and see rust on their equipment. see I thought we were shareholders and we get to question things, perhaps I misunderstood! But again, thanks for caring.
ReplyDeleteThis year is the first in the four years i've worked for hghway that we have run out of waste oil.I would say if it wern't so cold this year we would have made it through this year also. The question about temp and salt effectiveness still open and wonder if the facts are known? If you ponder a trip out and up grey rd you will find it a tight squeeze in the summer. To add snow banks with the trees at the edge of the roads out that way are a bit narrow ie one lane. When i come up the hill and i'm met with a car going down the hill the trick to start up the hill from a full stop would be of no concern to me the way the sanding operation is now done. If it were only salt and the road was without sand at the tar level bare tar with sand gives me grip i know is there.Would the salt be there after a plow off? The sand after a couple storms is still there and gives me grip unless washed off by rain. I know of few times if any we were sanding when like you state sanding was done on 4 inches unless a motorist was stuck and we were helping out to get them on there way. Very rare would we be out after 3 inches as we plow up the equipment for the plowing operations when the 2" level has fallen. We see the state plowing a inch after they just drop salt and drop salt again and again. So as your the expert in this type of road safety please keep us informed as best you can and with your help the highway will take the information and review the changes to be made and see if the safest way is another way and not our way.As far as the truck stopping faster full load a 10 wheeler stops much faster. Ask the drivers who haul sand would they want to have the stability of 6 or 10 wheels and the answer will be 10 every time. After the 24hr. plows we do not have a indoor wash bay like others and may need to hold off till it warms up a little to wash trucks and as soon as possible we do just that outside. Hot water would be a hard sell and if cold enough would be a freeze on contact issue also.The budget cuts and limited resources are a real problem for these type of functions and with the schools allowed to run the towns budget i don't see a whole lot of change going forward.As we spend past the snow and ice budget think what we would have for a salt price total. Close to the whole budget is salt now and if we were salt only what then.Would we get a lay off come may or june again? Our job "1" at the Highway dept is to keep the roads safe in Templeton for everyone. We do this to the best of our abilities.I can tell you for a fact what we do works the way we now do it. If there was to be a change inn procedure lets let the voters decide what they want and have them burden the outcome and be responsible for the changes.You want change and experiments get the petition started and tell the public why. "COULD " can be a very costly word. It's not only about the money.
ReplyDeleteit is always about the money, why do you think no money for raises??
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