Saranac faces highway equipment, staffing challenges

SARANAC | Residents in the Town of Saranac raised concern with road maintenance and snow clearing here as winter unleashed cold fury this season. Temperatures that go from minus 10 to 35 degrees in a day, then drop again create ice conditions. In a freeze-thaw cycle, layers of ice stick to many rural, less traveled roads, despite sand and salt application. And Saranac has miles of back roads that lead to higher elevations: Burnt Hill, Standish, Picketts Corners and True Brook, to name a few. Public concern with travel safety grew through these first weeks of January. The Sun called to learn about challenges the town is facing. Supervisor Tim Napper described the hand they've been dealt this winter. The town works optimally with seven trucks plus a spare, Napper said. "We were down to one truck last week for a short period of time, and down to two trucks for an extended period of time. Two are at the dealer's for repairs on things we're not capable of doing at the garage. It's hard to do seven routes with two to three trucks. "On a good day, if everything is working well, we would have at least seven CDL drivers who drive the plows with one extra to fill in. This year we have five. We have had issues with burnout. We've had three drivers with over 20 hours of overtime the past few weeks. I do think we could live with five operators if our equipment wasn't giving us so much trouble." NEW TRUCKS DELAYED Saranac Town Council has kept pace with new equipment rotation. But two new trucks they purchased in 2024 have not been delivered due to overwhelming demand across New York State. "We have two brand new trucks sitting in Harrisville," Napper said. "We bought two to get ahead of the electric mandate in 2024; they are conventional fuel trucks. Everybody else did the same thing. The electric vehicles are just not going to work plowing these back roads. "Because of demand due to the electric vehicle mandate, we paid for one of them up front. When we ordered those trucks, the salesman told us that -- and it's in the contract -- there are five places in the process where they could raise the price. At each point, the salesman said, they would ask us if we're still in. So we paid for one of the trucks up front and that got us locked into the price for the second truck. "We can't get the dump boxes and the plows on them," Napper said. "The manufacturers are backed up with 500 trucks that need equipment put on. We were told they would be ready in August, now we might see them in April. By then the worst of winter weather will be over." ICE AT ELEVATION Meanwhile, Saranac maintains 110 miles of roads, including about 24 miles of Clinton County roads. "We've got 88 miles of town road on top of about 24 miles of county roads," Napper said. "It's hard to get seven routes done with two to three trucks." The town successfully negotiated for a county rate increase, but that came after years of stagnation that has not kept pace with costs. And the type of road maintenance changes entirely across Clinton County, moving from elevation into the Champlain Valley. "If you take Burnt Hill traveling toward Macomb, the road becomes bare earth as you approach Plattsburgh," Napper pointed out. On Burnt Hill, Town of Peru highway crews have helped for the last few days, Napper said on Thursday. "They sent a plow truck up and a road grader up there yesterday." If people slide off the road, the town has tried to help. "A woman called when she went off the Coffey Hill Road, and we sent four guys to help. It took a wrecker to get her out," Napper said. "We've had just enormous ice build up. When you put salt on the back roads that don't see a lot of traffic, it doesn't work as well. Higher traffic level helps spread salt." And long roads up the hills take time to clear. "We had the grader working on Standish Road. This is the first time we've had to use the grader on the roads since I've been here. It's 10 miles from Clayburg to Standish and if you've ever been on that road, it's as uphill as any road is going to get. I talked to the grader operator yesterday, and he hit the limit of hours he felt he could do." Saranac isn't alone facing winter weather staff and equipment challenges. On Jan. 9, Napper said, town supervisors held a meeting and 10 of 14 Clinton County supervisors were there. "We were all saying it's been an incredibly tough winter. At the supervisors' meeting, I saw Plattsburgh (town) had a truck in the parking lot, but they told me they only have one spare truck and it has injector issues." Black Brook had two trucks offline last week, Napper said. "This is the worst we've seen in years." CDLs IN DEMAND Area demand for CDL drivers amid competitive wage rates adds to the problem. The Town of Saranac has managed to hire and train several new operators, but applicants are sometimes put off by pay rates as inflation ticks up. "Part-time guys come in around $22 per hour; full-time pay is closer to $30," Napper said. "Drivers have become a scarce commodity in this area. Especially if CDL operators have a choice of driving truck in the daytime or challenging roads at night. We can allow truck purchases and new workers, but that impacts spending." At Saranac Central School, Superintendent Javier Perez said the district confers with town highway personnel before calling a snow day. Thursday, Jan. 15 was the second snow day used this year, plus one day with a two-hour delay. Consideration for safety at Saranac schools factors in a wide stretch of North Country. The district encompasses several towns beyond Saranac, including Plattsburgh, Dannemora, Black Brook, Beekmantown and Schuyler Falls with some bus routes traveling into Franklin County. "My job is to get all students to school safely, from all roads in the district. I do know that our back roads can be very rough," Perez told The Sun. "Saranac's town highway department is short-staffed. They have had the same problem we have finding drivers. And this has been a difficult winter, we've had a lot more ice on the roads. What challenges us the most up here is the change in elevation. Ice has not gone away completely on the back roads, and they can be really rough." Perez credits the district's Transportation Supervisor Ben Perry and an incredible group of bus drivers for getting buses safely to and from the school. Looking forward, Town Supervisor Napper said Saranac was up to four trucks operating as of Thursday, and the storm that came in overnight was not as bad as expected. The town is adapting to deploy added personnel and available equipment, incorporating new routines for clearing roads. "We're using a smaller truck on intersections, going to other equipment so we can hire non-CDL drivers," Napper said. "We had some of our grounds guys following the road grader the two nights they were up on the Standish Road. We're trying to think out of the box. When we do get those two new trucks, we're going to cull the herd." Commuters who take care with winter driving, use snow tires and allow extra time benefit community overall. "It is hard for people to understand. And we all like to complain. My wife's been complaining," Napper said. "People don't want to slow down. Many want clear driving conditions on winter roads." Clearing roads takes time, especially with fewer drivers and less equipment.

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Saranac faces highway equipment, staffing challenges

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