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Plowing crews keep going during 'perfect storm'
(by Sue Reid - January 07, 2010)
Plowing crews keep going during 'perfect storm'
By SUE REID
Solon Service Department employees have worked around the clock since late last Thursday, Director Thomas Bandiera told City Council Monday, plowing 12,500 lane miles of snow.
That effort continued this week, Mr. Bandiera said Tuesday.
"It just keeps coming," he said. "It's kind of like the perfect storm. The winds were right for us to get dumped on with Lake Erie.
"We were hoping that we would have had a break over the midnight hours last night, but snow persisted to come down in a very light, misty fashion, which has kept our mains, secondaries and industrials plowed over."
The city received close to 2 feet of snow this week.
Mr. Bandiera said the hope was to focus on the subdivisions and get them plowed and pushed back, but the storm continued.
"When you have crews going nonstop since Thursday, and you're battling a storm that just isn't letting up, it really takes its toll," Mayor Susan A. Drucker said, "but the service department just kept working away at it and didn't stop. It says a lot about them, considering what we were up against. They did a tremendous job. Tom Bandiera and the men and women in the service department should be proud of all their efforts."
Mr. Bandiera said keeping the city's main arteries, SOM Center (Route 91) and Aurora (Route 43) roads, clear is a necessity, especially for the safety forces to be able to maneuver, as well as the motorists coming in and out of the city. There are 390 lane miles in Solon.
"They need to be kept maintained at all times," Mr. Bandiera said.
"The service department plays a very important role in the safety of the city," Police Chief Wayne Godzich said. "In all my years here, I've never seen it done better" than it has with Mr. Bandiera and his crew.
Mr. Godzich said there were 25 accidents in the city as a result of the storm and 58 disabled vehicles. "I'm sure there would be more if it were not for Mr. Bandiera" and the crews' efforts, he said.
Mr. Bandiera said his department usually runs 12 to 16 trucks at a time to cover the city's main roads, secondary roads and industrial roads. Trucks also go through the subdivisions to keep them passable as well. He said crews try their best not to bury driveways in the subdivisions as well as to keep sidewalks open.
Although some crew members have had to work beyond their 12-hour shifts during the storm, Mr. Bandiera said, "we try not to keep a driver in a truck longer than 12 hours. Some individuals have to stay over to plow during rush hour and work beyond the 12 hours."
Mrs. Drucker and council members commended Mr. Bandiera and his crews.
"Keep up the good fight," Councilman John T. Scott said.
"It was a rough few days," Councilman Edward H. Kraus said. "You did a great job."
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