Hello Thurmont from Commissioner Terpko
March 5, 2010
Hello Thurmont,
We weathered the storm and made it through all the snow. We did have some tough challenges and town staff, as always, handled the situations with ease and the utmost professionalism. With approximately 50 plus inches of snow that fell, the town staff had to literally remove most of the snow on most streets in town. There were many streets where staff had to use a skid loader to remove snow from the roadways and then run a plow on the road to remove any remaining snow. Most of the town residents had patience and understanding in this matter. I know a lot of people wonder how town staff determines which roadways are to be cleared first and why. Well it is done according to need, for example: Main roadways through town are done first and roadways to our industrial area of town. Then staff does the hills, side roads and roads leading to businesses such as grocery stores, etc. After these roads are done, then the town starts in developments and clears those roads. During the blizzard, town staff had to also open roadways for 1st responders or emergency responders so they could get out to assist others in town or in the county. Town staff will also assist the police department, ambulance company or the fire department on calls to ensure the roadways are clear and they can respond to the residents in need. For the most part this plan works well. Where town staff ran into problems is when we have a major storm and residents have vehicles parked on both sides of the streets. This causes problems trying to get a plow down the road and then the street does not get cleared or cars get plowed in or worse a car or vehicle gets hit. The Board of Commissioners is working on a plan with staff to possibly alleviate this situation. A suggestion would be, in developments where people have driveways and yards, put the cars there and remove them from the streets. Other areas possibly have everyone park on the even side of the road when it starts to snow, and then after the road is plowed, have everyone move to the odd side of the street. Then staff can have both sides of the road plowed. We also have the options of using the town parking lot for some residents who need off street parking. This plan is only in the discussion state, so if anyone has a suggestion or idea, please feel free to contact any one of the Commissioners with your thoughts and ideas. We welcome any suggestions to help make the plowing of snow go as smoothly as possible. Stay tuned, there will be more to come.
We will soon be working on next year’s budget. It is definitely going to be another challenging year. We will be reviewing all operations and expenses in each department. Keep watching for updates to budget items in all departments, including electric, water, and sewer. We will work diligently to not raise taxes, and keep all rates affordable.
In closing, I would like to thank our town staff for all the work they did during the blizzard keeping our roads clear, electric on, and water and sewer operating; also, our emergency service agencies which kept our residents safe and secure. I would also like to thank the following companies and people. The Guardian Hose Company, and the Ambulance Company for housing people who were stranded, could not get home or had to work to keep us safe or be able to respond to emergencies. WF Delauter and Son for help with snow removal, Biser Electric for assistance during the storm, Jan Lawyer for getting a business owner to work to provide fuel to the town to operate the equipment, and Direct to U for opening to provide diesel fuel to the town staff to operate all equipment to remove snow and allow our residents to get out and around.
Until next time,
All the best
Commissioner Ron Terpko
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