Town Readies for Today’s Winter Wallop

By Sue Ellen Woodcock

Interim Town Manager Terence Delehanty said the town of Winthrop is ready for today’s snow and hide-tides, thanks to the support of department of public works employees, contractors, the MWRA and Massport.

“We have contracted with private contractors to salt the streets and assist with plowing,” Delehanty said.

“Earlier this month, six of our Department of Public Works vehicles – three large salters, two smaller plows/salters and one dump truck – failed the state’s new inspection requirements for commercial vehicles,” Delehanty said.

“Given that we are already in the middle of the season, the Town of Winthrop has determined that it will be most cost effective to privately contract our salting needs this winter.  DPW employees will continue to plow our streets, with assistance from private contractors. We have set agreements with efficient contractors to cover our community and are confident our residents will be taken care of during each and every storm,” he said.

The replacement cost for all six vehicles would be approximately $750,000. The town will be looking into whether all equipment would be replaced at once, or purchased over several years.

“We are ready to go,” said DPW head Steve Calla.

Delehanty said there was a meeting of the heads of schools, DPW, police and fire and they are all ready to battle whatever storm comes.

“Caruso and the MWRA will assist us with plowing and salting,” Delehanty said.

Delehanty said in the spring, the Town of Winthrop will put a plan in place for next winter.

“We will perform an in-depth cost benefit analysis on the six vehicles to determine if we should replace them, or continue using third party contractors for our salting needs. Given the small size of our community, it may ultimately be more cost efficient for the town to use contractors rather than buying and maintaining a new fleet of winter vehicles,” Delehanty said.

Delehanty said the Town of Winthrop would like to thank the Massachusetts Port Authority and Massachusetts Water Resources Authority for their assistance over Christmas and into the New Year.

Delehanty also shared that the DPW has been responding to a lot of calls for freeze ups.

“Keep your basements warm and check on your neighbors,” he said.