With winter’s first big, local storm expected to hit the day after Thanksgiving, the city of Utica is hoping to have a little extra help on the road.
Heading into this winter, the city had 15, old snowplows, some dating back as far as 1987, and one new plow that arrived last winter, Department of Public Works Commissioner Mark Sokolowski said. The age of most of the fleet increases the risk of a breakdown or another issue that could keep a plow, or plows, off the road.A lot depends on how much snow falls and how heavy it is.
“The heavy snow, some of these fellas don’t plow as well and we have breakdowns,” Sokolowski said.
The city has 13 routes for salting and plowing so should enough plows ever break down at once, the remaining plows keep working until they’ve cleared all those routes, he said.
But buying new plows is problematic. First, they cost about $200,000 each, according to information the city sent out in a press statement.
Second, buying a new plow isn’t a fast process. The city is still waiting for a plow purchased in 2023.
The process of bonding and taking the other steps to get the money to buy new plows takes time, Sokolowski said.
And then the city has to wait in line to get its plow, he said. The city buys its plow from Viking in Massena, which sells a lot of plows so the city has to wait its turn, he said.
So Mayor Michael Galime started looking into the purchase of pre-owned vehicles to update the fleet more quickly at a fraction of the cost, according to the statement.
The city has now bought a 2011 International Work Star 7500 Dump Truck, equipped with plows and a salter, at auction for $24,860. That makes 17 plows.
“It’ll help immensely once we get insurance,” Sokolowski said. “That’s going to be an upgrade of a plow where we can sit one of the older plows down. We don’t have to count on that old plow.”
Sokolowski had discovered that the truck was available through Auction International on Nov. 10. DPW mechanic Sean Kennedy led an extensive evaluation of the truck, which was deemed to be in excellent condition.
The city’s budget director, public works department and comptroller’s office worked together to make sure the city would be able to bid. The city found out on Nov. 14 that it had won the auction and brought the truck to Utica on Monday, Nov. 24.
“If we did this a decade ago,” Galime said in a statement, “we could have reduced reliance on debt and had a maintainable fleet with spares in time of need.”
The city still needs to line up insurance for the new truck, but Sokolowski said he thinks it will be ready to hit the road by the time forecasted snow arrives.
Whether the new plow makes it onto the roads in time to help with this storm, the city’s plows will get the roads cleared, Sokolowsky, who used to drive a plow himself, promised residents.
“When it comes, we go,” he said. “We’re ready. We have the salt. We have the manpower. “
And city officials will keep looking for more used bargains, Sokolowsky said.
“We can always use more,” he said. “It’s just finding the right plow at the right time at the right place. And that one that we just did was just perfect.”
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Used plow updates Utica’s plow fleet on a budget
Reporting by Amy Neff Roth, Utica Observer Dispatch / Observer-Dispatch
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