Borough pays a price for snow removal
The Borough of Northampton has gone into a full-court press, with manpower, private trucks, and overtime for its own crews, working day and night, to rid the streets of mounds and mounds of snow. The work has exploded the borough's budget for snow removal.
Borough Manager Gene Zarayko, in a report to borough council on Thursday, said the borough, as is the case with all other municipalities is "doing the best we can" in cleaning up piles and piles of snow, removing snow and ice from curb to curb, closing blocks of streets so the work can proceed.
The rear of the municipal building, off Smith Lane, is taking on the appearance of a small mountain, where crews take their truckloads of snow for disposal.
Still, there are complaints by residents.
"We are receiving tons of complaints by email," Zarayko reported. He said it has to be taken into account that the borough's public works department has had some retirements of experienced equipment operators, new persons now on the job who have never operated a snow plow, and the onslaught of bad weather which gripped the town.
Zarayko said the borough enlisted trucks and manpower from Horwith Trucking, Frantz Trucking and Northampton Borough Municipal Authority to help the fatigued public works crews, working nights, weekends, days in long shifts on a seemingly never-ending task.
Council President John Yurish and council concurred the job is huge and everyone is doing their best in street and alley snow removal.
Zarayko said another 25 tons of salt arrived, which is combined with other materials to make the streets passable and safe for motorists.
The job comes with a price. The $12,000 allotted for snow removal and related materials could double. The borough manager said he expects to postpone until 2015 the purchase of a truck, originally planned for 2014, to save enough funds to fill the hole in the budget caused by the winter woes.
Mayor Thomas Reenock said he is fielding complaints from residents. In instances where there is a medical emergency or important doctor's appointment, the mayor said a call should be made to the proper authorities and a response will be made, whether it be an ambulance, rescue, fire, police or another activity to assist the individual or family.