Public Works Crew Hauling Snow Out of Downtown Oswego

Mountains and mountains of snow around Oswego aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

Nowhere around town is the magnitude of more apparent than downtown. Piles of plowed snow up to 12 feet high created walls of the white stuff all along Main Street.

A crew set to work early Friday morning removing the piles with a front-end loader and a dump truck. Their goal was to open up parking spots for downtown shoppers and workers. Public Works Director Jerry Weaver told the Village Board at its Thursday special meeting he hopes the job will be done Friday.

So, where is all the snow going? Village Administrator Gary Adams said the snow will be dumped in a lot on the south side of the Public Works building at 100 Theodore Drive.

Weaver also delivered an early report on his department's efforts this week to keep the village's streets clear during the blizzard. He said snow plow drivers worked from 4 p.m. Tuesday through the night, and into Wednesday afternoon clearing the roads.

The crews never let up and only two roads in the village (Ogden Falls and Southbury boulevards) were forced closed. Weaver said he has heard several complaints from residents regarding village plows blocking in driveways with three and four feet of snow.

"We have a number of calls from concerned residents—elderly," Weaver said. "I totally agree and I sympathize with them, but unless the board wants me to start clearing out driveways, we can't do it. We're just telling them we can't clean out driveways. Once we clean out one, we might as well clean them all out in town."

Weaver said next week crews will also start attacking the highest piles at corners around town due to visibility concerns. He said the snow will either be moved or hauled away.

Weaver also acknowledged that there were a few cul-de-sacs and secondary roads around town that were not properly handled.

"I'll take the blame for that," he said. "They should have been cleaned and they should at least have had passes down them, and they didn't. There weren't a lot of them—just a few of them, and I've addressed that with a couple of employees (Thursday) morning."

Village President Brian LeClercq took the opportunity to address complaints he's heard from residents about some roads not being plowed at all. He said those roads are private roads and not the responsibility of the village. He said roads like Station Drive off of Orchard Road on the village's west side are handled by the owners of those roads.

"We don't have the manpower or the equipment to start clearing off those private roads," Weaver said.

As for how much this storm will cost the village in overtime, Adams said those figures will become more apparent in the coming weeks. However, one thing that is certain is that the village has eclipsed its road salt budget for the fiscal year.

Adams said the village was at its budget before the storm hit. Some 300 tons arrived in recent days and another 400 tons is on the way, Weaver said. A typical snowstorm requires about 150 tons to clear the roads. How much has been used for this week's storm is still not known, as crews were still salting village streets Friday morning.