By JERRY BARMASH
Town does better in smaller storm
Uses new strategies to remove snow
On the heels of being heavily criticized for the mishandling of the season's first snowstorm, Supervisor Richard Guardino and his staff were under pressure to clean up their act, and thus the streets, in the next storm.
The next storm came over the weekend, dropping not nearly as much as the previous one, but still a mess. A combination of ice and a half-foot of snow made for slick roads throughout the town.
In Oceanside on Saturday, hours before the first snowflakes would fall, trucks were out treating the roads with salt and sand.
By Sunday, plows were out in force to take care of the storm and help keep resident's criticism down this time around.
This effort to win back residents' trust came after the town released a point-by-point report detailing how the problems dealing with the end-of-year snowstorm wouldn't happen again.
That first storm saw town plows make an initial sweep of roads, but then take as long as three days to return to streets to finish the job. The result was a lot of peeved people. And Guardino hiring Frank Scarangella, a former department of highways official, to recommend what could be done better the next time. Now, those recommendations have been implemented:
Crews must arrive at highway yards prior to the first snowflake hitting the ground. Crews will utilize steel-edged plows when necessary. Additionally, workers will be trained to better prepare them for a big storm. Guardino said the training involves watching a video. Workers have also been responsible for plowing parking lots to get more cleanup experience and a feel for their equipment.
Experts assure me that, by getting ahead of the storm and getting a layer of salt and sand on the highways, we will avoid many hours of work in removing ice from frozen surfaces, Guardino said in reference to crews getting to work even before snow falls.
Steel-edged plow blades were recommended by Scarangella based on the need for speed. He found the process was slowed because crews remained on the road using rubber-edged plows rather than lose time to make an equipment change.
More training for workers is needed, Guardino said, because many members of the highway department have retired since the last big storm, in 1996, and some employees had not fought a previous major storm. To that end, the town has put together manuals, films and videos for the less-experienced workers.
At the Oceanside Town Hall
