After snow, the Five Towns cleans up
Villages, residents plow and shovel 12 to 14 inches
Updated Jan. 27, 5 p.m.
While schools were closed Thursday there was still work to be done as another snowstorm dropped a foot to 14 inches of snow on the Five Towns area.
Clean up began Wednesday night as the villages of Cedarhurst and Lawrence had their plows out. Lawrence Mayor Martin Oliner declared a snow emergency at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night.
"It is very helpful with clean up, it makes a massive difference when the cars are off the street," said Oliner, who added that residents are "very cooperative," and "things went pretty smoothly."
To get the large stacks of snow off the streets, the village large moved them to the Lawrence Country Club golf course area on Thursday.
Though hard figures are not in yet, Oliner did note that the village's snow budget limit (approximately $84,000) has been reached with this storm the sixth of the season. Lawrence's fiscal year spans from July 1 to June 30.
In Cedarhurst, all the equipment and crews were out Wednesday and Thursday, said Mayor Andrew Parise, who said the village roads were good, the county roads coming into the village were also good, but some problems did creep up with resident driveways that iced up.
Plows hit the streets after more than three inches land on the ground, said Village Administrator Sal Evola, who added that before three inches plows are ineffective.
Following the past few snowstorms Cedarhurst's salt supply needed replenishing. Parise said they received a shipment of salt and sand early Tuesday morning.
The mayor added that the village is watching their budget since the Dec. 26 storm costs them $53,000 when only $50,000 of the year’s budget was allocated for snow removal. Cedarhurst's fiscal year is from May 30 to June 1.
“We’re way out of funds already,” Parise said. “So we do have problems and hopefully the sun will come out and melt the snow.You have to manage it, you can't leave the snow there."
Parise should get his wish as today's forecast for it to be mostly sunny and breezy with temperatures in the 30s.
