Hebron pleased with highway dept. crew

HEBRON — Selectmen, at their September 24 meeting, expressed satisfaction with work done by the town's highway crew, most recently on Allen Road. 

Selectman Jim Reid said the crew recently finished shouldering the newly-paved Allen Road as well as did ditching on Townsend, Goodrich and Sodom roads.  

According to Reid, they had a number of people actually stop and compliment them on how "nice and neat" the ditches look. 

"The boys are doing what I think the town of Hebron wanted for a highway department," said Reid.

"They are fulfilling their summer commitment," he said. 

Chairman Dick Deans suggested to Reid that the highway crew do some shouldering and ditching on Station Road as well.  

"They were talking about trying to finish up some stuff from years past that didn't get finished and utilize our own equipment without having to rent a shoulder box or somebody's grader," Reid explained. 

He also mentioned the town went the entire summer without renting an excavator. He said the highway department is going to put together a report of what roadwork was accomplished this year. 

Reid said the highway crew was planning on doing some ditching throughout town, but may hold off until the weather warms up again. "If you can't get grass to grow you could have problems in the spring," said Reid. 

In addition, he said the crew is already working on getting the plows ready for winter. 

"I think they are rockin' and rollin' and ready to go," said Reid. He also said the town's salt for winter roads was delivered recently. 

Selectmen said they've also been discussing winter plow routes, as November is just around the corner. "Sanding and plowing will be commencing here pretty soon," said Reid. 

Selectmen will schedule a workshop with the road foreman to further discuss potential plow routes for the winter. "He will suggest where he thinks the routes should go," Reid told selectmen. 

In other news, selectmen discussed looking into hiring a third highway crew member or using a contractor to plow during bad snow storms, like the town has in the past. 

Selectman Dan Eichorn questioned how many contractors will want to make Hebron a number one priority when a snow storm hits and thought it might be more feasible to hire a third crew member.

Though not realistic, Eichorn said, the best solution would be to find someone who is trained to plow and would be willing to work on-call. 

Reid said the town has been trying to find a part-time highway crew member for the past couple years, but has not been successful. 

Selectmen will continue to look into hiring a third person, what it would cost the town and whether it'd really be worth it. 

"I am not concerned that if we didn't get any snow that they'd just be sitting in the town garage," said Reid. "There's plenty of brush to cut for a few years yet."