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04/12/2016 12:45 PM

Late Season Ice and Snow Challenge for North Haven Public Works


The way North Haven’s Public Works Field operations director looks at it, the town has had a normal amount of snow this year. It just came at an odd time.

“We had spring during winter and now that spring is here, we’re having winter,” is the way Victor Palma sees it.

The most recent storms that have hit the town haven’t come with huge snowfalls, but they’ve been very challenging, according to Palma.

“When you get the icy kind of storms we’ve had the past few weeks,” said Palma “it is really tough on the crew and the equipment. You have to constantly be out there plowing and re-plowing to make sure the streets are safe.”

Palma said it’s too early to add up the cost of the late season storms, but finances aren’t his main concern, anyway.

“My job is to make sure the roads are safe for those who drive and walk in North Haven,” he said.

It does help, though, that the normally harsh months of November, December, January, and February were “milder,” temperature-wise and snow-wise, than other New England winters have been, said Palma.

“We kind of dodged a bullet earlier in the season,” he said.

Palma is hoping that we have seen the last of the snow, though, for another reason.

“This is the time of year that we shift our efforts into getting the ball fields ready for baseball and softball,” he said. “We can’t do that until we get past this winter-like stuff.”