SWAMPSCOTT — The Department of Public Works (DPW) is prepared to embrace the winter with several new snow plows and an additional sander, according to its director, Gino Cresta.
“We are hoping that we get through the first storm without a lot of breakdowns,” Cresta said. “But I’ve been fortunate over the years, the finance committees appropriated funds for me to purchase some new equipment.”
The DPW has prepared equipment and secured additional contractors to tackle the snow this year. The department now has 20 vehicles in total, equipped with plows, four large sanders and two smaller sanders, said Cresta. Due to the limited DPW yard capacity, all plows are stored behind the pump station.
Currently, 15 crew members service the town of more than 15,000 residents. Besides snow removal in the winter, they continue to work throughout the year on sewer and water breaks, forestry, roadways, sidewalks, and at the cemetery and park, Cresta said.
“I am fortunate I have pretty good guys,” said Cresta. “They like to work.”
The DPW has hired 12 additional contractors this year to assist with snow-plow operations. A lot of communities have been experiencing a shortage of seasonal contractors in the past few years, even though they are being paid a premium.
The town has 14 plow routes and Cresta plans to assign one DPW operator and one contractor per route. He said that this amount of operators and plows is enough for the whole town.
“It changes year to year, but this year we are in good shape,” said Cresta. “There’s basically three months where it snows and we’ve already crossed one off the list.”
Swampscott’s DPW usually applies a mix of salt, sand and 32-percent liquid calcium chloride that helps to melt snow and ice. The department has the capacity to store 100,000 gallons of salt in a shed at its yard, which is enough to salt the entire town for three snowstorms, Cresta said.
Last year, the DPW spent $50,000 on salt alone and about $270,000 is appropriated in the town’s budget each year for snow removal. Cresta said that his department has not overspent this amount in the past two years.
