Region recovers from snowstorm

More than a foot of snow descended on Burlington County towns last weekend.

By: William Wichert
   Last weekend, as more than a foot of snow descended on Burlington County towns, a lone figure could be seen trudging through the chilling wind and crossing over icy paths: the postal worker.
   "The ‘rain, sleet, hail and snow’ thing, we definitely believe in," said Newell Kehr, postmaster of the Bordentown City branch on Walnut Street, referring to the quotation that is commonly associated with the endurance and dedication of postal workers in times of inclement weather. "It’s kind of bred into us now."
   Mail carriers lived up to that mantra during the early hours of the first large snowstorm of the winter season that led to a marathon plowing session, cost one municipality over $10,000 in snow removal expenses, and gave students in some school districts the day off at the beginning of an exam week.
   In Bordentown Township, which received 12 ½ inches of snow, the short-staffed Public Works Department plowed township streets for 32 hours straight from noon on Saturday to 8 p.m. Sunday, said Public Works Director Vincent Pangia Jr.
   Although the department is missing four employees from its ranks, the 10 workers on the job worked from noon until 4 a.m. the following morning, when five of them went home for a quick nap and came back to work at 9 a.m. Another two workers went home then, but two men plowed the entire 32-hour shift.
   "The guys stepped up to the plate," said Mr. Pangia, who said his staff worked another few hours on Monday to clear the paths surrounding the school bus stops. "There wasn’t a place for the kids to wait for the buses or walk to the buses."
   Mr. Pangia said he has not estimated the total cost of the storm, but Mansfield Township Mayor Art Puglia said that the municipality will most likely be faced with a bill for over $10,000 in snow removal expenses.
   Mansfield had two trucks staffed by public works employees on the streets and another eight trucks from a private snowplowing firm, which cost about $100 for every hour of the storm, the mayor said. While the firm’s specific charges depend on the size of the trucks used, Mayor Puglia said he estimated that the total snow removal cost about $1,000 per hour.
   "Snow looks pretty, but it’s very expensive," said Mayor Puglia, who said he would be looking to the state for some emergency funds. The township has allotted about $50,000 toward snow removal and salting in its budget, he said.
   As the snowplow trucks headed down the streets in these townships and other municipalities, the drivers would not have seen many students, because six of the eight school districts in northern Burlington County cancelled classes on Monday. The only districts that were open, North Hanover and New Hanover Townships, had a delayed opening.
   Florence Superintendent Louis Talarico said he hoped the middle school and high school students used this extra time wisely, because they were scheduled to begin their midterm exams on Tuesday.
   Either way, Dr. Talarico said he was pleased with his decision to cancel school on Monday. "Ultimately, it’s avoiding having kids at a bus stop and crossing highways," he said. "Even if you’re stopped at a corner, you can’t see who’s coming."
   A few days before the storm started, Dr. Talarico posted a message on the district’s Web site, outlining the weather-related reasons why the district would close school in the event of a storm and how the parents can be notified.
   After seeing the forecast on TV and watching the inches accumulate outside, closing school was a no-brainer, he said.
   "It wasn’t something where I had to wait and see how it progressed in the evening," said Dr. Talarico, who said he made his decision at 5 p.m. on Sunday. "There just was no way I was going to risk people getting hurt."
   North Hanover Superintendent Richard Carson said he made his decision to keep school open at 8 p.m. on Sunday, because his staff had told him that the roads were clear and safe enough to go to class.
   "Everybody was telling me it was OK," said Dr. Carson, who decided to have a 90-minute delay. "I haven’t heard any reports of anybody in the community not making it (to school). If you’re going slow, you’re going to make it."
   One of his considerations was a half-day program for 4-year-olds at the McGuire Air Force Base Discovery School.
   "If we do any more than a 90-minute delay, we can’t have that program," he said. "You have to make these calls early. It’s a tough decision, but you depend on information folks are giving you."
   While school officials were checking the weather forecast as the storm developed, Mr. Kehr started planning his post office’s response on Jan. 20 in a meeting with 31 clerks and carriers at the Bordentown branch.
   "Most of them are veterans. They’ve been through a lot of storms," said Mr. Kehr. "We made sure they made 100 percent deliveries. So when we came in Saturday, we could just do that day’s mail."
   When the first pair of workers came in at 4 a.m. on Saturday, they immediately gave their work an "extra push," he said. From the trucks to the bags and into the neighborhoods, all the mail at the branch on Saturday was delivered.
   "We want to make sure we get their checks to them (residents). They don’t care about the bills," joked Mr. Kehr, who said he returned on Sunday to oversee the snow removal in the branch’s parking lot.
   Like Mr. Kehr, who normally does not work on the weekends, Postmaster George Wallace said he also came into work on Saturday at the Florence branch on Broad Street to assist his eight-member staff.
   After giving his workers a talk on how to stay safe in the snowy conditions, Mr. Wallace said he picked up a mailbag himself to help his carriers get through all their neighborhoods earlier in the day. Most of postal workers were done by 2 p.m., but a pregnant carrier was able to finish by 12:30 p.m., he said.
   "It could be hard enough carrying mail on a regular day, but in this stuff, it’s harder," said Mr. Wallace, who requested that all residents keep their pathways ice-free for the carriers to get past unharmed. "If they could just have their walks salted, we’d appreciate it."