• Region's DPW winter road warriors set for whatever comes

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Joseph Lebeau mixes road sand and salt at the Department of Public Works facility on Albany Street as the Worcester DPW prepares for winter weather Sunday. T&G Staff/Rick Cinclair
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• By Brian Lee
  Telegram & Gazette Staff

  
  Posted Dec. 27, 2015 at 6:13 PM
  Updated at 6:13 AM
  
  

  Plows, salt trucks and sanders, resting idle entering the New Year because of unseasonably mild December weather, are ready to go by Nov. 1 of each year, regardless of the conditions, Worcester Public Works Commissioner Paul J. Moosey said.

  This month’s unusually mild weather is being attributed to El Niño, the phenomenon that develops when trade winds that normally blow warm water westward in the Pacific stop blowing. The region is on the warm side of jet streams that typically bring arctic air to the Northeast.

  Of course, with a wintry mix predicted this week, everything could change and the army of snow clearing machinery will be ready at the starting gate.

  Last year at this time the weather was also warmer than normal. But there had been snow. There was a storm the day before Thanksgiving, followed by lesser amounts during December and most of January. But on Jan. 30, a large storm set the stage for regular storms throughout February, depleting some communities' supplies of salt.

  Mr. Moosey said prior to the Jan. 30 blizzard, the prelude to five to six weeks of unrelenting snow, Mr. Moosey recalled that people in the city were asking him, "What are you going to do with all that snow money?"

  The city wound up spending about $6.5 million on snow-and-ice removal, from a budget of $4 million, he said.

  Last year, Worcester used 12,000 tons of salt and about 6,700 yards of sand.

  Currently, the city has 6,000 tons and 6,500 tons of salt, which is as much as the shed will hold, and about 300 cubic yards of sand. The city, Mr. Moosey said, can purchase sand without delay at any time.

  Elsewhere, cities and towns and state highway officials say that they are also ready for whenever wintry conditions make their 2015-16 debut.

  In Webster, which spent $414,458 on snow-and-ice removal during the brutal 2014-15 winter, from a budget of $155,000, Highway Superintendent Kenneth L. Pizzetti said:

  "Right now, everything has been well-prepped. Supplies are stocked from the de-icing products on down."

  Its shed is presently full with approximately 800 tons of road salt, which he said is more than enough to get Webster going. Webster used about 2,000 tons during 2014-15.

  According to Fitchburg DPW Director Lenny Laakso, the state encouraged cities and towns "to buy as much salt as we could handle ... just so that they can avoid some of the crush that happened during the season last year when everybody was running out in February."

  Mr. Laakso said that Fitchburg' shed is full with about $300,000 worth of road salt, "but with the mild weather, so far, we're able to continue doing work in the streets that ordinarily would have ended by now," he said.

  Fitchburg spent more than $1.5 million on snow and ice removal last winter. Ordinarily it spends about $900,000. It initially budgets $400,000, with Mr. Laakso approaching the city council for additional funds when that runs low.

  Oxford doesn't enter winter on the notion that it will overspend, preferring what DPW Director Sean M. Divoll called "a true number" for budgeting purposes ($400,305 earmarked for fiscal 2016). Its shed is filled with 2,400 tons of road salt.

  Mr. Divoll, whose town is the lead in a co-operative consisting of about 11 area towns, including Webster, to bid jointly for road salt, said it is "good overall practice to stock up now regardless, of what the state might say or regardless of what the forecast is going to be for the winter."

  Meanwhile, the co-operative allows the participating towns to pool its quantity and bid as a unit with the idea that it will get a better end cost. Currently, at $86.89 per ton, the towns buy salt that is pretreated with a liquid additive that Mr. Divoll said is better than plain white salt.

  Mr. Divoll said the mild weather has been well-received by workers in Oxford. Even though working overtime to remove snow and ice would help them financially, "most of them are pretty happy to go home at 3:30 and seeing their families, especially this time of year.”

  Mr. Pizzetti of Webster said that a couple of his younger workers long for storms because they view them as a challenge.

  “You’ll always have a couple of guys that really enjoy that, and they’re a little bummed out right now,” he said.

  Mr. Laakso said: “If you get it all at once like last February, they're exhausted because they're working around the clock, and if it happens too many times, then they're burnt out. Ideally, we like it spread out."

  The state DOT, which spent $167 million on snow and ice removal last year, from a budget of $107.3 million, is budgeting $110.5 million this year, DOT spokesman Michael Verseckes said in an e-mail. MassDOT is ready for whatever worst-case scenario the winter could bring, he said.

  Mr. Pizzetti of Webster said: "Between fuel and overtime, and your normal snow-and-ice budgets, these types of lulls (in bad weather) are good for every small city and town all over. I would say it’s kind of a blessing."