Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - When it comes to the snowfall in Western New York, there's no such thing as preparing too much and too early as the season is quickly approaching.
City of Buffalo
Given the frustration Buffalo residents have had with the previous snow season, the Buffalo Common Council want a clear plan with handling the snow from the Interim Commissioner of Buffalo's Department of Public Works, Francisco Guzman, before the snow ultimately falls.
"From what I understand, talking and speaking with the previous Department of Public Works commissioner, he was very aware that the City of Buffalo has early snow, even in October, so they were devising their plan," says Buffalo Common Councilman from the Masten District, Ulysees Wingo.
"But of course, as we all know, he has moved on. Now we have an interim department of public works commissioner. This individual, Mr. [Francisco] Guzman, has been doing a great job of trying to make sure that the department stays together as it relates to staying on task to make sure that we have a snow plan. He's been very helpful with helping us understand what we should expect," Wingo says.
The council convened with the Interim Commissioner Tuesday afternoon. Guzman says, "We're looking at all aspects of the snow plan to have the best practices included and we're looking to have that released by November 1st."
Some councilmembers vocalized concerns with the lateness of the plan, "We were told that there was a snow plan in process and we still couldn't have that earlier, we're going to wait until Nov. 1 when you know that some of our worst disasters happen in October," said Councilman Rasheed Wyatt.
Councilman Ulysees Wingo highlighted some of the common concerns he is hearing from citizens of the Masten District, "Some of those concerns are streets that are one way not being plowed as often or as frequently as other streets. Another concern is when the plows [are] coming down the streets, a lot of my seniors are unable to remove the snow that's plowed in front of their driveway. So they are now trapped in their house, which could [cause] at times, safety concerns. Then there are sidewalk issues."
In addition, the councilman acknowledges that mail carriers do skip over houses if snow is blocking it.
Buffalo's council is moving along in the process of finding a permanent commissioner for the Public Works Department. When we talked to Councilman Wingo on Friday, he was on his way to a meeting to meet with a prospective candidate.
Even though Mr. Guzman's plan won't be announced supposedly on the first on November, Wingo is confident that the City will be ready if snow came down tomorrow, "The City of Buffalo has a plan in place for any type of emergency snowfall. I'm sure that we will be able to handle whatever is thrown at us."
Town of Clarence
Meanwhile, The Town of Clarence's Highway Department is still in fall mode, picking up leaves before the snow hits according to Clarence's Superintendent of Highways, Jamie Dussing but they are ready for the early snow, "We are getting ready with the trucks and the snowplow so that we have two units together, or partially together right now. We should be good to go, at least with a couple of trucks in case we get an early snow and we have to keep some main roads open."
Dussing says a lot of prep goes into getting things ready to go for snowfall, "The trucks all have to get cleaned up from summer construction season and get all the blacktop and dirt to get them cleaned up. We then start prepping them for the installation of the salters and all the plow equipment, so there's quite a bit of preparation. It takes a couple mechanics probably a full day to get them cleaned up and get everything mounted on the truck."
"We kind of learned our lesson a few times with heavy wet snows in October and it's very hard to put the equipment together while it's snowing, dig everything out and put it all together in the inclement weather. So we're much better off just putting it together slowly as October progresses as we get into November and then we'll start suiting a few trucks up a week until our full complement of trucks is ready to go," Dussing says.
