News
For Borough Workers, Snow Is No Day At The Beach
By John Burton
RED BANK - As the snow starting falling early Thursday morning, Gary Watson, director of the borough's Department of Public Utilities, realized it was going to be a long stretch for him and for the other department employees.
Watson said he got to the department headquarters at about 7:30 a.m. Thursday morning. "And I'll probably be here until Saturday," he said.
"These snow events, I need to see them through from the first flake until it's cleared," he explained. "There are so many things that can go wrong."
Last week's storm was the third of the winter and one that appeared to be in the running as the most severe.
Watson took The Two River Times™ for a tour around the borough to discuss the department and his strategy for addressing the storm.
As the storm was gearing up, Watson and his department were, too. He said 34 of the Department of Public Utility (DPU) 38 workers would be on duty, with employees scheduled for 12-hour shifts, from 2 a.m.-2 p.m. and from 2 p.m. as they worked to clear the roads. "About 2 p.m. I go into emergency snow mode," he said at about noon.
The preparation for the tough winter months, Watson explained, begins long before the first flake flies. Watson walks into the DPU's garage area at its Chestnut Street facility where he points to bins piled high with road salt - 150 tons worth, along with what has already been loaded into the trucks. "We're actually preparing this back in the summer," when salt prices are more reasonable, he said. In addition, the mechanic crew works on the plow trucks to ensure, "They need to be in the ready to go position long before the snow comes," he said.
"These day storms are brutal," he acknowledged, saying they heap on complications as schools are open (though preparing to close early that afternoon), people already at work and possibly going to be leaving early, trucks making deliveries, and the like.
"I try to get the roads open and safe as much as I can," he explained.
The plows were out earlier than would have been the case, because of the slushy, wet snow, and Watson's concern of it freezing should the temperature drop in the evening.
"You look at this now," he said while pointing out the window of his work SUV. "Wait until later."
Workers had already been out putting down salt, especially on some of the borough's hillier streets, such as River Street, going toward the primary school, Chapin Avenue, as it slopes down toward Chapin Hill, a senior nursing care facility, and on the east side on Prospect Avenue.
Watson said he had a four or five hour window to clean the streets and municipal parking lots, making the most of the hours between when bars and restaurants close in the late evening and the early morning when people start coming out for coffee and heading to work. His department divides the community into five zones, with two or more employees per zone, plowing the streets.
As for the workers, "Guys think it's great," Watson said, noting that employees working the emergency snow shifts get a borough paid meal (up to $10) at the Broadway Diner, Monmouth Street, and can take breaks and short naps as they need them.
"It's looks like it's going to be a long day," observed one of those guys, Donnie Andrews, who was out on the west side with a pickup truck equipped with a snowplow on Thursday. "But it's fun, though."
Andrews has been with the borough's DPU for 10 years. "It's been real tough this winter," he said."I know I'm not coming home tonight," His plan is to work and get some rest in the locker room between shifts, instead of making his way home to Ocean Township. "The overtime helps," he said, with his youngest already knowing it'll mean some new Power Rangers figures.
The overtime and supplies required to address winter's fury, is probably playing havoc with the municipal budget. Two weeks ago, before this storm, Borough Councilman Michael DuPont said the borough was already over its initial snow removal budget of $45,000.
"You budget for snow every year," Watson said. "But nobody budgets for this many significant snow events."
For Watson and his crew the next battle is already shaping up: Once the snow emergency is behind them, his department will be dealing with the roadway potholes left behind by the winter weather. "Here's the second nightmare," he said as we rolled over one of the craters on Bridge Avenue, just before Chestnut Street, rattling the SUV. "We got some bad ones," he said.
