Published: February 07, 2008 11:00 pm      

Roseboom board to discuss issue of snow removal

The Roseboom town board will meet at 6:30 tonight to discuss problems with snow removal this winter, Supervisor Michael Stannard said Thursday.

"People are mad, and I wouldn't be surprised to see 100 of them here," he said. "Our roads aren't getting plowed and it's a dangerous situation. I've never seen them any worse than they've been this winter."

Stannard said first term town highway Superintendent David Thompson is doing a poor job of keeping the roads cleared.

"It's nothing personal with me, but either you can do the job, or you can't,'' he said. "I'm tired of hearing from people about this, but who can blame them when they have to wait for days to have the roads plowed.''

Thompson said the roads haven't been plowed adequately because of a shortage of serviceable equipment, and he's received little cooperation from the town board.

"They're trying to dump this on me, but it's not all my fault,'' he said Thursday.

The town has let its equipment deteriorate to the breaking point, he said.

"We're supposed to have three plow trucks, but when I took over in January, one of the trucks had been in the shop a month,'' he said.

A second truck developed trouble, he said, and while driving the third one, Thompson tipped it over and it can no longer be used.

"I was going along Route 50 when the plow dug in and the truck flipped,'' he said.

An insurance company declared the truck totaled.

"For a while, we had no trucks, so what was I supposed to do?'' Thompson said. "Go out there and clear the roads with a shovel?"

The highway superintendent said the town board has not given him the tools he needs to do his job.

"They don't know how to buy a truck, I can tell you that,'' he said.

Stannard said he has advised Thompson to resign so he can be replaced.

"I don't want to wait until we have a school bus accident," Stannard said.

Thompson said he plans to go to tonight's meeting to face any critics, and the town board would be better off helping him do the job rather than trying to force him out of it.