Even with the huge amount of snow expected this week, it’s generally easier to maneuver downtown Cobleskill this winter, thanks to the town Highway Department and cooperation from merchants.
That’s a change from past winters, when mounds of curbside snow challenged pedestrians and customers.
Mike Persons, Cobleskill’s new highway superintendent, met with Cobleskill Partnership Inc. directors Friday to up date them on snow removal.
One significant improvement this season is that the town hired four part-time workers to help with shoveling and driving, Mr. Persons said.
Access to Cobleskill Regional Hospital and for police and fire trucks are top priorities, followed by streets, for plowing.
“After the men have been in trucks for 12 to 18 hours,” Mr. Persons said, there’s not much time––or energy––for clearing piled curbside snow.
That’s where the part-timers come in, he said.
“It worked well with our last storm, better than the first one,” Mr. Persons said.
Another benefit for using part-timers is reducing overtime and compensation time for the full-time crew.
Instead of overtime, full-timers often get comp time they take in the summer “and then there’s nobody to do the work then,” Mayor Mark Galasso said.
Town Supervisor Tom Murray pointed to another plus.
“We don’t have to pay benefits [to the part-timers], and they don’t make as much,” Mr. Murray said.
“We get the job done better and we save all-around.”
For their part, merchants are responsible for sidewalks in front of their businesses. They’re to push the snow into street so workers can pick it up.
Merchants are clearing their sidewalks pretty well, Mr. Persons said.
He asked CPI directors to alert business people when crews will remove the snow.
So far, the system seems to be working well, even in a winter with more snow than in past years, Mayor Galasso said.
“People’s expectations remain the same, no matter what the snow event is,” he said.
“If we get one storm of 36 inches, it’s easy, but if we get two inches of snow five days in a row, it’s more difficult. Men are in the truck more. But it’s working.”
Mr. Murray agreed.
“Our goal is 48 hours after a storm, we want this stuff gone,” he said.