Recently, I had the opportunity to talk with Jim Smith, Sennett's highway superintendent. Jim is a jovial fellow, with a serious side when it comes to the business of the town highway department.
Jim is president of the Cayuga County Town Highway Superintendent's Association, which holds monthly meetings where the town needs and problems are discussed, and vendors have the opportunity to demonstrate their products and services to a number of highway department leaders.
“Smitty” has recently been appointed to the executive board of the New York State Town and County Highway Superintendent's Association, an organization which works through cooperation and strong lobbying efforts to assist the towns in getting money and political support for road and bridge programs.
The Capital Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS) provides 4 million in New York state funds yearly, to be divided among approximately 930 towns. Recently, a bond act “rebuild and renew New York state” was passed which will provide $35.9 billion for New York state highway improvement programs, over a five-year period. Half of this will be spent in the New York City metropolitan area and half upstate. This is the first increase in funding in eight years.
Another interesting fact that I learned from talking with Jim, involved overtime pay for employees. In the fall of 2002, several highway superintendents asked the state comptrollers office if using a four day workweek would result in decreased overtime costs.
Overtime wages are a significant portion (8-30 percent) of wages paid to highway employees during the winter months. In the nine towns audited, winter overtime wages for the three-year period 2000 to 2003 ranged from $41,635 to $87,682, while the total winter wages, while the total wintertime wages paid were $150,047 to $653,216.
Snow storms from January through March frequently result in large overtime costs, that often cause town snow removal budgets to be significantly stressed by the following November and December. As a consequence, many towns are often faced with the difficult decision of determining how to finance higher than expected costs of snow removal services as the year is ending.
According to Jim, the plows go out between 3 and 7 a.m. If it is not snowing at 11 a.m., the employees are allowed to go home. By instituting this “Flex Program,” overtime costs for the town were reduced, last year by $13,450. This is a 32 percent decrease in overtime costs.
The town force consists of the superintendent and four men, all highly skilled in road repair and drainage, proper sign installation, roadside mowing, snowplowing, and vehicle mechanics and maintenance.
Jim tells me that all equipment repair is done in-house, and my observation of the town equipment demonstrated a high level of skill on the part of department employees.
I was shown before and after pictures of a 1985 Koehing excavator, which was rebuilt and restored like new by Dan Sholt. The transformation was amazing.
Since Jim runs “a tight ship,” his men are randomly drug tested throughout the year, always with favorable results. Also, they must pass a yearly evaluation and skills certification for equipment maintenance and operation, meeting the PSHA standards.
I was able to view segments of the department's computer program, which keeps track of vehicle and equipment maintenance. Recording such items as the last time roads were inspected, location of signs, sign inventory, construction material of signs. This information is important for insurance purposes in the event of highway accidents.
The highway department may receive calls or complaints for related problems, which are logged into the computer where a complete record of the event is recorded, including the name of the caller, the nature of the problem, the name of the person assigned to resolve it, and the disposition of the matter. In reference to the value of the computer, Jim says “It makes life a lot easier.”
Jim noted that new housing developments have already added more road miles to the town's highway system. The department now maintains 28.4 miles of town roads and 9.43 miles of county roads within its borders, and as the number of miles of responsibility grows, so will the need to hire more personnel and add more equipment to existing inventory.
I asked him if he could relate a memorable story from his professional experience. Jim told me about when he was driving the plow during a snow storm and Dan Short was operating the plow wing.
“Dan saw a man stuck at the end of his driveway, and suggested stopping to help him. When they stopped, Dan opened his door and stepped out onto the parallel bars supporting the plow, which were covered with ice. I turned to look at Dan and he was gone, all I saw was Dan's eyes in a snow pile.”
Smitty said, referring to the hours spent at the town garage during snow storms, and the cooperation between the employees, “We're like a second family.”
Tom DeFurio is former supervisor of Sennett
“Smitty” has recently been appointed to the executive board of the New York State Town and County Highway Superintendent's Association, an organization which works through cooperation and strong lobbying efforts to assist the towns in getting money and political support for road and bridge programs.
The Capital Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS) provides 4 million in New York state funds yearly, to be divided among approximately 930 towns. Recently, a bond act “rebuild and renew New York state” was passed which will provide $35.9 billion for New York state highway improvement programs, over a five-year period. Half of this will be spent in the New York City metropolitan area and half upstate. This is the first increase in funding in eight years.
Another interesting fact that I learned from talking with Jim, involved overtime pay for employees. In the fall of 2002, several highway superintendents asked the state comptrollers office if using a four day workweek would result in decreased overtime costs.
Overtime wages are a significant portion (8-30 percent) of wages paid to highway employees during the winter months. In the nine towns audited, winter overtime wages for the three-year period 2000 to 2003 ranged from $41,635 to $87,682, while the total winter wages, while the total wintertime wages paid were $150,047 to $653,216.
Snow storms from January through March frequently result in large overtime costs, that often cause town snow removal budgets to be significantly stressed by the following November and December. As a consequence, many towns are often faced with the difficult decision of determining how to finance higher than expected costs of snow removal services as the year is ending.
According to Jim, the plows go out between 3 and 7 a.m. If it is not snowing at 11 a.m., the employees are allowed to go home. By instituting this “Flex Program,” overtime costs for the town were reduced, last year by $13,450. This is a 32 percent decrease in overtime costs.
The town force consists of the superintendent and four men, all highly skilled in road repair and drainage, proper sign installation, roadside mowing, snowplowing, and vehicle mechanics and maintenance.
Jim tells me that all equipment repair is done in-house, and my observation of the town equipment demonstrated a high level of skill on the part of department employees.
I was shown before and after pictures of a 1985 Koehing excavator, which was rebuilt and restored like new by Dan Sholt. The transformation was amazing.
Since Jim runs “a tight ship,” his men are randomly drug tested throughout the year, always with favorable results. Also, they must pass a yearly evaluation and skills certification for equipment maintenance and operation, meeting the PSHA standards.
I was able to view segments of the department's computer program, which keeps track of vehicle and equipment maintenance. Recording such items as the last time roads were inspected, location of signs, sign inventory, construction material of signs. This information is important for insurance purposes in the event of highway accidents.
The highway department may receive calls or complaints for related problems, which are logged into the computer where a complete record of the event is recorded, including the name of the caller, the nature of the problem, the name of the person assigned to resolve it, and the disposition of the matter. In reference to the value of the computer, Jim says “It makes life a lot easier.”
Jim noted that new housing developments have already added more road miles to the town's highway system. The department now maintains 28.4 miles of town roads and 9.43 miles of county roads within its borders, and as the number of miles of responsibility grows, so will the need to hire more personnel and add more equipment to existing inventory.
I asked him if he could relate a memorable story from his professional experience. Jim told me about when he was driving the plow during a snow storm and Dan Short was operating the plow wing.
“Dan saw a man stuck at the end of his driveway, and suggested stopping to help him. When they stopped, Dan opened his door and stepped out onto the parallel bars supporting the plow, which were covered with ice. I turned to look at Dan and he was gone, all I saw was Dan's eyes in a snow pile.”
Smitty said, referring to the hours spent at the town garage during snow storms, and the cooperation between the employees, “We're like a second family.”
Tom DeFurio is former supervisor of Sennett
The Citizens' Say
There are No comments posted.