Island Park Public Works makes resources last

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Joe Annarella, Island Park’s deputy mayor and commissioner of public works, pointed at a roughly six-foot-wide bright-orange metal box sitting near the village garage. It was a high-capacity snowplow for clearing out parking lots.

The plow seemed unremarkable at first, until Annarella noted that his department had fabricated the piece of equipment on its own, saving about half the cost of buying one new. The plow represents how the village’s public works department operates, he said, as the staff does whatever it takes to keep the streets clear with limited resources.

The group’s responsibilities include collecting garbage, maintaining the fire department’s equipment, sweeping the streets and, in the winter, clearing village roadways, parking lots and sidewalks of snow. It’s a lot to do, and for a village with roughly 4,500 residents, resources are tight.

“We make things last here,” Annarellasaid about maintaining the department’s equipment well past its warranty.

The inside of the department’s garage was like a mechanic’s dream. A fire department ambulance had its hood cracked open for repairs, electrical parts were being concocted in the workshop, snow tire chains soaked in diesel oil to slow rusting and heavy-duty equipment was neatly arranged all around the building.

According to Annarella, his workers were constantly looking for new ways to maintain their equipment and do their jobs better. He said they even scan through YouTube videos to come up with new ideas.

For snow response, the department has three dump trucks, three pickup trucks and two payloaders, all of which can be repurposed for different tasks. Out of its staff of 13 people, about half are on call during a snowstorm, and although they take breaks when they have to, they will work around the clock until the roadways stay clear. “Whether it’s six hours or 26 hours, we do it all,” Annarella said.

“Sometimes equipment breaks,” he added. One worker, who wished to remain anonymous, recalled a truck that broke down during a storm a few years ago. A mechanic took a part from a truck of a different make and model, he said, and adapted it to repair the broken vehicle. He then returned it to the original truck when the storm was over.

On average, the department uses about 20 tons of sand-salt mixture per storm and keeps a stock of 60 tons on hand at all times. Last week, Annarella decided to make the switch to a full salt mixture because he felt the 50 percent sand mixture wasn’t melting the snow and ice quickly enough.

Although the crew is well acquainted with snow, there are always going to be variables, Annarella said. Some snow has higher water content, which makes it heavier, he added, and sometimes the temperatures are unusually low, or wind speeds are high, causing snow to drift.

“No two storms are the same,” he said. “We just have to stay alert.”

There are man-made challenges as well. “They said snow blowers were God’s greatest gift to man,” noted the worker. “But they’re also a curse.” Annarella explained that when people blow their snow into the streets, it ends up reversing much of the department’s work and forces them to re-plow streets more often.

He advised residents to blow the snow onto their lawns, where it won’t obstruct the street. Still, whether they have to do it five times or 20 times, they’ll re-plow a street until it’s clear and the snow stops.

“Our staff at the department of public works is second to none,” said Island Park Mayor Michael McGinty. “They take a deep abiding personal interest in their work, and they’re always looking to do better.”

He said he’s amazed at how much work they do in any given week. “This is a quality group,” he said of the workers. “I’m so proud to be associated with them.”

They’re modest, however, and were initially hesitant to allow the Herald access to their facilities. The tentativeness was not out of concern for privacy, but because they felt their efforts didn’t warrant publicity. “We’re just blue collar workers,” Annarella said. “We’re doing a job.”