Delehanty, Letterie Praise DPW Efforts During and Following the Snowstorm

Interim Town Manager Terence Delehanty and Town Council President James Letterie both praised the Department of Public Works for their snow-clearing and snow-removal efforts following the blizzard that dumped close to two feet of snow on Winthrop last Friday and Saturday.

“Considering this was the second-largest January snowstorm in our town’s history, I thought our DPW did a great job clearing the snow,” said Delehanty. “This is a clean-up process that is continuing all week.”

Letterie also lauded the DPW for its work during the historic snow event.

“I am extremely proud of Steve Calla for their remarkable effort during an historic snowfall in Winthrop,” said Letterie. “Our crews worked 26 straight hours before we gave them a break, which gave residents time to shovel and plow themselves out. In a town like Winthrop, a snowstorm of this significance needs all our help, the residents along with our DPW, Police, Fire – we can’t do it alone.”

Letterie said residents putting snow that they had removed from their properties onto the streets “was a significant hindrance for us in some circumstances.”

“But overall, I’m extremely proud and happy of everyone who put an inordinate amount time and effort into the operations,” said Letterie.

Delehanty said three private contractors with plows were hired to supplement the efforts by the Winthrop DPW.

Delehanty and Letterie agreed with Supt. of Schools Lisa Howard’s decision to close schools Monday. He said that decision allowed DPW workers to focus on clearing the sidewalks, paths and school parking lots and provide safe access for teachers and students.

“We needed that extra day to clean up Kennedy Drive (the road leading to the Gorman Fort Banks School),” said Delehanty.

“I know there was concern about there being no school on Monday, buy I stand behind the superintendent’s decision,” said Letterie. “As much as it’s her decision, it is a group effort and it doesn’t just involve the fact that the schools’ grounds are cleared, we have to be cognizant of all the sidewalks throughout the town, the extremely high mounds of snow that might be a visual impediment at intersections. We need to look at the safety of getting our children back and forth from school. I think Supt. Howard’s decision was spot on. It was nice to have the schools back in session Tuesday morning.”

Delehanty noted that there were no flood-related problems caused by the storm. “Flooding was not a concern,” reported Delehanty. “Fire Chief [Scott] Wiley kept us informed that he didn’t think it was going to be an issue, and he was correct with his analysis throughout the blizzard. That made a huge difference that there was no flooding.”

Both Delehanty and Letterie said that DPW Director Steve Calla and DPW Operations Manager Aaron Armistead both operated front-end loaders throughout the storm. “I thank Steve and Aaron for getting into the machines. We didn’t have front-end loader drivers, so they had to operate those themselves.”

Letterie also elaborated on Calla and Armistead’s personal, snow-removal efforts.

“I can’t imagine another city or town in this area that has their DPW director working equipment for 24 hours at a stretch,” said Letterie. “The effort by Steve and his staff was commendable.”

Delehanty said he will be submitting a report to the Town Council detailing all the costs to the town resulting from the snowstorm.