HOULTON, Maine — The town’s public works department was ready for the area’s first major snowstorm last week as more than a foot of heavy, wet snow fell Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 in the Shiretown.
“We were ready for it,” said Chris Stewart, public works director. “This storm brought more than was forecast, but we handled it.”
The town has 11 members of its public works department, including the director. The average cost of snow removal from the downtown for a single, eight-hour storm is about $5,700, according to Stewart.
The total cost for clearing all of the town’s roads and sidewalks from a single storm is roughly $7,128. The downtown takes the most amount of time, and therefore costs more, because all of the snow must be hauled away.
Early in the winter season, the town hauls its snow to Houlton Community Park. Once the ground is sufficiently frozen, a snow disposal site on Hillview Avenue is used.
Keeping the fleet in fine working order is one of the major challenges, Stewart said. Part of the reason it is so difficult is that those employees who serve as mechanics are also drivers and are needed to be out plowing and salting streets.
The department will receive a boost in its fleet as the town council on Nov. 28 authorized the purchase of two 2006 International trucks from a state auction at a total cost of $14,700. Those vehicles will be used for sanding and salting.
Getting ready for the long winter plowing season is something that starts several months before snow flies.
“We typically start in early fall by cleaning catch basins,” Stewart said. “That way, if we have wet snow and rain, we don’t have water flooding out our roads.”
Public works employees then turn their attention to hauling in and mixing salt with about 5,000 yards of winter sand. That sand is stored onsite at the town’s salt-sand shed. The town uses about 1,600 tons of “rock salt” calcium, along with a new product called “IceB’Gone,” which is added to the sand/salt mix to create greater efficiency with melting snow and ice.
“We started using that product a year or so ago,” Stewart said. “What it does is helps activate the salt at a lower temperature and we have to use a lot less salt. Plus, it’s not as harmful to vehicles.”
According to the town’s snow removal policy, sidewalk snow clearance is conducted “as soon as possible” during winter storms. Stewart said there is one staff person designated to operate the sidewalk machine to clear about 16 miles of sidewalks. That person is also used as a reserve plow truck driver, and with this most recent storm, had to be pulled from the sidewalk blower to fill a vacancy.
Stewart said, for the most part, his department rarely receives complaints from the public. Occasionally, some people will ask why sidewalks are not cleared.
“Roads take the priority over the sidewalks,” Stewart said. “Sometimes the sidewalk blower sits [unused], and that’s something I don’t like to do. But we only have so much manpower.”
