By Joe Pinchot
SHENANGO VALLEY —
PennDOT has notified four Mercer County communities that it will not renew the Winter Municipal Service Agreements that had local crews plowing and salting state roads.
While officials from Hermitage, Farrell, Grove City and Wheatland are upset by the move, fearing safety problems would result from a slower PennDOT response to snow-covered, icy and slushy roads, a PennDOT official said the contract decision is not as bad as it sounds.
PennDOT instead wants to expand the agility program it has with many communities, where PennDOT swaps services with local communities, said Jeffrey Dunlap, PennDOT’s Mercer County maintenance manager.
Snow removal can become part of the agility program with those communities, just as it has been with others, Dunlap said.
“If they are going to do snow removal for us, we need to work out what we will do for them,” he said.
PennDOT owns equipment to paint lines, pave roads and chip branches, and it could perform those tasks, Dunlap said. Many local communities would have to rent equipment to do those jobs, or hire someone to do it.
PennDOT acknowledges that local crews can do a good job plowing and salting roads, Dunlap said.
Dunlap will meet Thursday with Hermitage City Manager Gary P. Hinkson, and plans to set up meetings with Farrell, Grove City and Wheatland officials, he said.
PennDOT initially sent letters to the communities informing them that it will not renew the winter maintenance contracts, which had local officials fearing the worst.
“I think it will be a nightmare,” said Farrell City Manager LaVon Saternow.
“This is absolutely horrible,” said City Commissioner Rita L. Ferringer of Hermitage, where officials had discussed trying to have local crews plow more state roads, not fewer.
Grove City and Wheatland officials expressed similar sentiments.
Municipal officials said their street crews can get out much more quickly than PennDOT crews to plow and salt state roads, and attack them multiple times if need be. They said PennDOT will be more worried about Interstates 79 and 80 and Route 60, and smaller state roads might never get done.
PennDOT said it did not plan to add personnel or equipment to take on the extra miles of roads, which further inflamed the ire of municipal officials.
Municipal officials feared local drivers would face unplowed, slippery roads that will make driving more dangerous, and complicate the jobs of police and firefighters, who will have a harder time getting to call scenes.
PennDOT decided not to renew the winter contracts after consulting with its union, whose members felt the five-year pacts “contracted out their work,” Dunlap said.
“They want to maintain as much work as they can,” he said.
But, the union has no problems with the agility program.
“The union is very much in support of that program,” he said.
The timing of the notification was unfortunate because the communities buy their road salt through a state program, and had to have their orders in by March 15. The orders this year anticipated salting state roads.
Mrs. Saternow noted that Farrell does not have a salt storage facility and salt sits in a pile under a tarp.
“We try not to keep too much of that around,” she said.
The loss of revenue brought on by the expiration of the contracts does not appear to be significant. Hermitage has received $50,000 a year, Farrell and Grove City each got $10,000, and Wheatland took in $6,500. The money did not necessarily cover the cost, but money was never the issue, local officials said. The issue was safety.
PennDOT has winter maintenance agreements with six other Mercer County communities, but they do not run out this year, Dunlap said.
