DPW: Town handled storm well

WINSTED — Department of Public Works Chairman Jim Rollins spoke to the Board of Selectmen at its meeting on Monday, Dec. 1, about how the town fared during the first snowstorm of the season.

More than 6 inches of snow fell on Wednesday, Nov. 26, the day before Thanksgiving.

“It was an interesting one,” Rollins said. “Of course, it happened on the heaviest traffic day of the year. But the guys [at the DPW] handled it very well. I was quite impressed at how they knew exactly what to do. They went out and got right at it.”

Rollins said DPW employees were out from 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 26, to 3 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 27.

“They used up a lot of sand and salt,” Rollins said. “But we got the job done.”

Rollins did not say how much sand and salt was used during the snowstorm.

“After the storm, we went through a debriefing about what we encountered,” he said. “We had a few complaints come in during and after the storm. We assessed the complaints, and some were valid while some were not. We had some contact with the residents who made the complaints and told them what our solutions were. Some of them agreed with our solutions, some didn’t. But we’re going to try it to see if what we’ll do will serve them better.”

Rollins was hired by the town in October, and this was the first snowstorm he has dealt with since being named as DPW director.

“The crosstalk on the radios between fire, police, ambulance and public works is quite impressive,” Rollins said. “The teamwork that goes along with it was inspiring at moments. There was a medical emergency because an ambulance couldn’t get to a house. We heard it on the radio, and our street foreman knew which truck was in the area. We sent him up there, and he sanded the driveway to the house so the ambulance could get in. It was pretty impressive.”

He said that plowing unpaved roads is a challenge because of a different freeze-thaw cycle than paved roads.

Another challenge Rollins said DPW workers faced was vehicles parked on the road during the storm.

For many years, from the beginning of November to the beginning of April, a ban on parking on town streets was enforced.

That ban was lifted in March by the selectmen.

“Listening to the radio I found out that there were a lot of vehicles in the way [of plows],” Rollins said. “Again, it’s routine that when the truck drivers hit an area that they can’t get to, they contact the police on the radio. The police try to clear the cars first, and if they don’t find a solution, they ticket or tow them. There was a lot of conversations on the radio during the storm about cars in the way, and it was pretty hectic.”

Rollins said that during the snowstorm, there were six mechanical breakdowns which needed to be repaired.

“All but two of the vehicles were in and out quickly,” Rollins said. “One is out of service until we find parts for it. We had a problem steering with it, and it turns out the frame is cracked with the steering box attached to it. It was one of our better trucks, we thought, so it came as a surprise.”

In talking about preparing the town’s infrastructure for winter, Rollins said that the department fell short in patching potholes.

“That’s going to come back to haunt us all winter,” he said. “Hopefully we can get some weather where we can put some hot patch in [the potholes]. The asphalt plants are going to be closing soon. We’re probably going to be patching the potholes with cold patch, which does not hold up as well. We just couldn’t get to it, so we’re going to be paying the price with that mostly with unhappy residents. It will slow down the plowing, but we’ll do what we can with the cold patch.”

Rollins also gave an update on reports that street lights are out on certain parts of Main Street.

“We’ve been trying to track down the solution to that,” Rollins said. “We’re not exactly sure that we have it, but I think we’ve secured Connecticut Light and Power to come out and fix it. However, we don’t know what the problem is. I’m not 100 percent up on this, but at least it is being addressed. Hopefully it will be addressed very soon.”