MADAWASKA, Maine – Some Madawaska residents raised concerns about the town’s response to snow cleanup during a select board meeting Thursday night.
These concerns come after three public works employees, including the department director, quit in November. Two other employees had left prior to the resignations.
Since November, the town has hired four full-time and three part-time public works employees. The town is now trying to fill three vacancies, including the director position. Town Manager Gary Picard said during the meeting that Madawaska is continuing to receive and review applications.
Picard said in December that the worker shortage may lead to a slower response to storms.
Residents during the meeting said they were concerned that the town’s response to cleaning up snow on the sides of the streets and sidewalks could create safety issues.
One resident said he recently fell while walking on Main Street. He said that, if he had fallen on his back, an ambulance would likely have trouble getting a stretcher over the snow.
Madawaska resident Jessica Blalock was concerned about the impact on local businesses.
“I know we had a couple snow storms back to back, but when people start falling we’ve got to get it cleaned up before some businesses on Main Street open,” she said. “It’s really not fair to the businesses.”
The town manager said he understood the concerns of people falling, but noted that the town has never done daytime cleanup on Main Street. He said cleanup depends on factors such as the frequency, timing, and severity of each storm and availability of contractors to haul snow.
Public Works employee Corey Morin said during the meeting that some of the new employees are not yet trained to work with the town’s equipment.
“Right now, we don’t have the manpower to clean the roads and to have a crew to pick up snow,” he said. “It’s the same crew to push snow and the same crew to pick up snow.”
He said the response will improve over time.
“Until the crews are trained on the equipment where they can do multiple things, then I think we will have a better chance of tackling it sooner,” he said.
Picard said that the town never does snow cleanup during the daytime because it is not feasible to pile the snow into rows with machines during this time.
“It takes several hours, depending on the size of the storm,” he said.
Picard said one crew windrows the snow and the other crew works to take care of all the snow for traffic the next morning, ideally by about 6 a.m. He added that the crew recently had issues with the snowblower, which slowed their progress.
He said the town also relies on trucks driven by contractors to haul the snow away.
In terms of the town’s response, Picard said that it will take new crew members time to become efficient.
“They’re going to continue to get better in their roles, but I think they did a pretty good job,” he said.
In an effort to retain remaining employees and entice new hires, the town in December approved $5 an hour raises across the board for the department. They also approved an additional 3$ an hour shift differential for nights and weekends.
Picard said last month that he and other officials sat with the remaining employees to discuss their concerns, which include pay, benefits, and concerns that the town does not show appreciation for their work.
Later in Thursday’s meeting, the board also voted to clarify that the recently-approved $3 an hour shift differential for nights and weekends will also apply to part-time-seasonal workers.
