By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
About 5 to 6 inches of snow blanketed Lawrence Township on Sunday night, closing the Lawrence Township public schools Monday for the second time during the school year.
The snowfall also caused problems for garbage collection, Municipal Manager Richard Krawczun said. Garbage trucks could not make their rounds Monday, so residents whose pickup was scheduled for that day will have to wait until Saturday, he said.
The closing means the last day of school is still June 22. The 2008-09 school calendar builds in three emergency closing days.
The snow began falling Sunday afternoon, but the first Department of Public Works snowplows did not hit the streets until 9 p.m., Mr. Krawczun said. Two snowplows were dispatched initially, he said.
Over the next few hours, additional snowplows were sent to clear the township’s roads, Mr. Krawczun said. By 4:30 a.m. Monday, the balance of the trucks had been sent out. At the height of the snowstorm, 19 trucks were on the road.
But by 6:30 p.m. Monday, “major operations” had ceased, Mr. Krawczun said. One snowplow was kept on the road overnight, however, to handle drifting snow and icing problems.
Mr. Krawczun said the township Department of Public Works spent $17,700 on rock salt for the roads. The snowplows dumped about 300 tons of rock salt on the streets to keep them clear.
The manager said he did not know how much the storm cost in terms of overtime pay, but the township had already spent $23,000 on salaries and $70,000 on material since November 2008.
“We had a number of smaller incidents (that required snowplows to be sent out),” Mr. Krawczun said.
The manager added that this week’s snowfall would most likely require increasing the appropriations in the 2009 municipal budget for snow. The budget, which has not been adopted, calls for $30,000 in salaries and $40,000 for other expenses.

