Public Works plan would cover plowing

HERMON – Hermon councilors took steps this week toward expanding the town’s Public Works Department to eventually include snowplowing, operations for which the town currently contracts.

Councilors voted on Wednesday to have Town Manager Clint Deschene develop plans for future expansion of the Public Works Department.

Deschene said Thursday that he expects to present a four-year Public Works plan at the next council meeting on Feb. 18.

Councilors also voted to have Deschene purchase a more substantial plow truck to replace the 1-ton truck now in use. That truck has had five transmissions replaced or rebuilt, although it has only about 23,000 miles on it.

Deschene explained that the truck has been used for more things than intended as the town grows and faces more needs.

The old truck, which the town will keep, doesn’t fit in with plans to move away from contracting for winter maintenance and toward doing its own work, including at least some summer maintenance.

The town manager said he will present several funding methods for the truck purchase at a special town meeting to be scheduled.

Deschene told councilors he was confident that expanding the Public Works duties could be done without increasing the Public Works budget. To offset truck and equipment costs, road repair schedules would be extended a few years.

On average, the town has spent $170,000 per year to reclaim and pave roads over the past three years. Deschene said that extending the road work timeline could bring down that figure to $100,000 per year.

The difference would be used toward the expanded Public Works service. Ten roads due for reclaiming and paving over a three-year period instead would be done over a five-year period, he said.

The truck that the town intends to purchase has a dump body and would be used for winter road maintenance and for summer road work, including brush removal.

Formal implementation of the expanded Public Works plan likely would have to wait for the current private contract – which has four years left – to expire.

Meanwhile, new roads brought on line, including those in subdivisions, will be plowed by the town and not by the snow contractor.

The plan is to have Hermon eventually plow, sand and salt all of the roughly 58 miles of roads in town.