Hebron to save money on highway dept. operations

HEBRON — Selectmen during their meeting Monday discussed highway department operations and ways to save money in the next budget cycle. 

Topics included preserving winter road salt, divvying up highway crew hours, fixing culverts, minimizing use of equipment and replacing town vehicles.

Chairman Dick Deans praised Highway Foreman Bob Downey for the highway crew's work on constructing a temporary open-faced salt shed. "I think you've done a great job on that salt storage over there," he told Downey. 

The town's plan is to preserve salt by protecting it with the shed. Selectmen discussed the need for a shed nearly a year ago when last year's Road Commissioner Warren Packard reported that the town was losing 25 percent (about $5,000) of its salt to rain because it was improperly covered.

Downey reported Monday that construction of the shed has been completed. 

He said there is "plus or minus 40,000 pounds" of salt currently stored inside the shed – equal to a few trailer loads. "It's right at the edge of the roofline," he said. 

To date, the town retains 273 tons of salt – just under half of the town's allotment for the winter, Downey said. 

"We should be looking good," said Downey of remaining salt, pointing out it's already the middle of January. Selectman Jim Reid said, in the past, the town has mixed its remaining salt leftover from winter with its sand pile for conservation. 

"Right now, it's as dry as can be," Downey said, of the salt. "It's going to work out real good," he said, of the shed. "It's going to be quite an asset to the town to have that structure." 

Minimizing

In addition, Downey said the highway department needs to work on minimizing use of equipment in places it's not needed. Downey said the town's bucket loader truck is "worn right out" due to excessive use. 

"It's the one piece of equipment that does a lot of work for the town," he explained. "It got to the point we had to do something; large holes were appearing." He said the truck has since been "refabbed." 

He suspects the truck will be back in use by the middle of the week. To minimize its use, Downey said the highway crew will only use it to haul sand in the future. 

Selectman Dan Eichorn said the town should also focus on making sure efforts aren't duplicated when it comes to work done by the highway crew. 

"Which happened ... the week before last," he explained. "There was a little tree down on Merrill Hill Road. Someone had seen it and called Dick [Deans] and Dick asked Richard to saw it and get it off the road. I saw it [the tree] on my way to the transfer station and called Bobby." 

By the time one worker arrived, the other had already finished removing it, Eichorn said. "I think we need to formalize what happens ... to make sure people aren't duplicating efforts," he told the selectmen, who also act as the town's road commissioner.

Selectmen agreed to refer all  highway department-related calls to Downey first, "so multiple people aren't showing up to do the same thing." The key, they agreed, is better communication. 

Savings 

Reid suggested that the town put the replacement of culverts under its own warrant article at town meeting rather than adding it to the summer roads account. 

Otherwise, said Reid, "it would hit the budget pretty bad." 

He figured the town might save money if they set aside a certain amount for the replacement of a 12-foot, three-piece culvert by The Storekeepers on Station Road.

"Then we can say, 'this is designated for this project,'" Reid said. He suggested assembling the culvert on site before setting it. Selectmen will also get pricing on cleaning the existing culvert before it gets sleeved. 

There is one concern, however. "You can't sleeve something that's not clean at the bottom," Downey said. "You have to divert the water to clean the existing culvert then sleeve it, then return the water back to its natural flow."

"If that's the case, then it sounds like it will take a lot more money to dam that up," Reid said. "There's a lot of water that goes through there." 

Selectmen also discussed factoring paving projects into the budget, particularly for Bryant and Station roads. 

"If we are going to do it, now is a good time," said Eichorn. 

Reid said the town has some work to do over the next two weeks before the budget committee sits down to determine the budget. The next budget committee meeting is January 31 at 7 p.m. 

Selectmen scheduled town meeting for March 16 at 10 a.m. at Hebron Station School.