Public Works Director Fred Hurley said despite low snow totals over the weekend of January 17-18, intermittent snowfalls over those two days proved costly for the town due to the amount of overtime and materials used as roads were covered with snow, cleared, then covered again multiple times.

The weekend saw a number of snowfalls over a 48-hour period, which Hurley said was unusual.

“Usually, you get the snow, you clear it up, and it’s done,” said Hurley. “That was not the case here. It was an unusual occurrence.”

Hurley said it would snow and then stop, and the town plow drivers would clean up. More snow then fell, and the crews would repeate their work. Additionally, the freezing of melted snow multiple times was a “nightmare for the road department.”

At least a dozen motor vehicle accidents were reported locally during the storm, although most appeared minor in nature (see this week's Police Reports). Road conditions were cited in the majority of the police reports from those crashes.

The town used 700 cubic yards of sand, 300 cubic yards of salt, and 1,000 hours of overtime over the weekend. Most of the town’s prepurchased supplies are out, and the DPW will have to ask for more, he said.

“It was a tough weekend,” said Hurley. “We’ve blown through most of our budget for the year.”

In spite of that, Hurley said the department was gearing up and prepared for more snow predicted the weekend of January 20.

“We have enough to get through the weekend,” said Hurley.

Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.