And Is Using It—

Llodra: Town Has Abundant Salt And Sand

By John Voket

First Selectman Pat Llodra warned council members Wednesday night that any constituent calls they might receive about the town lacking sand or salt are unfounded.

Mrs Llodra reported that while Tuesday’s snowstorm may have taken state DOT crews by surprise, delaying attention to many state roads in town, including Church Hill Road, local Highway Department workers picked up the slack, plowing and spending hours laying down the appropriate sand/salt mix.

She said local drivers spent five hours putting sand and salt down as the storm developed, then conducted a townwide plowing run, followed by another full application of sand/salt “product.”

The first selectman’s office and The Bee both received similar calls alleging that the local highway department was either out of sand, or that crews were ordered to curtail spreading the mixture on local roads.

“The town did not run out, and there were no directives to drivers to not drop product,” Mrs Llodra said. She also appeared miffed over the fact that individuals either succumbed to rumors, precipitating additional calls, or worse, perpetrated the rumors themselves.

“These rumors were harmful, and distracting for those who were doing the work,” the first selectman said, adding that diverting resources to validate the erroneous information that was circulating “erodes the town’s ability to do the work.”

Council member Richard Ferguson said he was out plowing during the storm, and that he thought “the Highway Department did a fantastic job, as always,” during Tuesday’s protracted snowstorm.

Mrs Llodra said it was unfortunate, and that she was investigating whether the rumor was started by a disgruntled town worker, “who may have been told to do something he didn’t agree with.”

She told the council that any such statements made by individuals representing that the town was ill prepared, or directing workers in a way that might compromise public safety, “represented the town in an unfair way.”

The first selectman told The Bee following Wednesday’s council meeting that she understood some school bus drivers might have been repeating the erroneous information to parents or students on their buses, compounding the rumor.

Public Works Director Fred Hurley has repeatedly addressed recently revised practices on spreading sand and salt, which were mandated by state and federal environmental directives. Where local crews used to use a 5-to-1 mixture of sand to salt, new protocols provide a 1-to- 1 mixture or about an 80 percent reduction in sand use overall.

Taxpayers also benefit from the new practices because while salt may be somewhat more expensive, using less sand substantially reduces the amount of time town crews spend sweeping up leftover sand, and unclogging storm drains.

The reduction of sand use has also eliminated the need to hire an outside vendor to supplement local street sweeping crews, and Mr Hurley reminded town officials during the 2009 budget season that cost estimates for the outside sweeping contract had doubled since the previous year.