Highway dept. focus of county board this year

NORWICH – County officials focused in on the highway department more closely this year, helping employees transition to a new director, putting aside more funding for road maintenance next year, and coming up with ways to trim equipment costs.
Taking time to get to know employees has been a personal mission for Chenango County Public Works Committee Chairman Dennis Brown, D-Pharsalia. Brown spent a lot of time at the DPW office in Norwich this past year, visiting employees and management often, including twice just yesterday.
“Our employees are our most valuable resource, and they need to know how important they are to everyone in the county, in all of the towns,” the supervisor said.
A lot of emphasis was placed on reaching out to the towns to share road maintenance and equipment whenever possible, and to rent excavators, gradalls, big dozers and other larger equipment instead of buying. The county DPW has tried to maintain a good relationship with the towns, and particularly counts on the most farflung highway departments, like Greene’s and Bainbridge’s, for support.
After his first year on the job, Chenango County Director of Public Works Shawn Fry had big shoes to fill after 36-year director Randy Gibbon retired last fall. But he said the department’s 85 employees have adjusted to the management change and are working well together.
“It’s taken some time to get used to everybody and new ways of doing things. Change is difficult, but morale is a lot better,” he said. “Everybody in the county has to try to work together with all of the towns, and help each other as much as possible,” said Fry.
Chenango County lawmakers authorized an extra $200,000 in the DPW’s total budget of $12.6 million for road maintenance and machinery. The plan is to repave an extra 30 to 40 miles of roads, or accelerate the repaving schedule from 11.8 to 10 years for each mile of county road. By doing so, more extensive projects will hopefully be avoided.
Last week, the board approved the bidding to commence on two new tandem snow plows and two crew cab pickups for the highway department in an amount not to exceed $475,000. Brown said when it comes to trucks that employees drive, there’s no substitute for new.
With the way the economy is, Fry said there’s no question that the cost of larger equipment has become so astronomical that it’s not worth it for smaller counties to afford buying new. Specialty equipment that might only be used for one or two months of the year or for special projects will be rented. Renting also cuts maintenance and storage costs.
Fry said he was somewhat concerned that the price of materials in the Northeast might escalate this spring as a fall out from Superstorm Sandy. So far, with the mild temperatures, the department has been able save some in the budget for plowing and sanding.
The 85-member crew are busy maintaining the 308 center line miles of roads and shoring them up for the coming winter, Fry said.

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