Snow, Ice and Murphy's Law Spell Trouble for Buckingham

It was a case of Murphy’s Law working against Buckingham’s snow removal team during one of the recent winter storms that struck the region.

Everything that could go wrong did.

As a result, roads weren’t cleared as fast as they should have been, or seemingly not at all.

“We all know it’s been a heck of a winter,” said township manager Dana Cozza, giving supervisors an update Wednesday night on efforts by the township’s water and public works departments to clear roads during the four major snow and ice storms that hit since late December.

The storm that really gave them the most trouble was the one that struck in two waves.

The township has 15 pieces of equipment it uses during snow storms. It was down four plows in that storm, Cozza said, causing delays in plowing the roads.

The reason?

One subcontractor went out of town and didn’t notify the township, another subcontractor’s truck broke down and there was no backup, another township employee had been given part of that day off, and another employee was out since his partner was having a baby.

“If you reduce that many people, you’re in trouble,” she said,  “and we were in trouble.”

As a result, complaints from residents regarding the snow-covered roads poured into the township.

Cozza told supervisors she and public works director Nick DeMeno, new to the township this year, reviewed problems that cropped up and are trying to remedy them for next time.

“We weren’t able to hire more subcontractors this late in the game,” she said, but the situation with the subcontractor who left and didn’t tell anyone was corrected.

Better communication throughout township departments was noted.

Plus, each plow driver has a 6-mile route of plowing township roads. Drivers are being asked to shuffle their routes so that all neighborhoods have a more equitable shot at having their roads cleared in less time.

The township also is re-evaluating the number of subcontractors it uses as well as the size of the vehicles used to plow, some of which are pickup trucks with plows on front.

So far this year, “we’re actually not doing bad” with the costs associated with snow cleanup, said Cozza.

The township has spent about $30,000 on subcontractors and overtime for township employees.

“I think that might be the problem, that we’re only spending $30,000,” said supervisor Henry Rowan.

While the township pays $90 an hour for a subcontractor to plow roads for six hours, it might behoove the township to hire two at that amount, he said. That way they could cover the same amount of roads in three hours.

Cozza agreed that the key to solving these kinds of problems would be to hire more subcontractors.

Plus, she said, “We don’t have that backup for our subcontractors, and I think we need to address that.”

While some municipalities already have used up their allocations of road salt for the season, Cozza estimates the township still has enough for about three more storms.

They’ve ordered another 950 tons to store in their salt shed and have spent about $58,000 of the $60,000 allotted for in the budget.

Lastly, Cozza said residents need to be aware of the township ordinance to shovel sidewalks within 12 hours of a storm’s end. 

“We don’t want to fine people – we will if we have to – we’d rather have compliance.”

The ordinance is posted on the township’s website.