IRVINGTON, NJ — Mayor Tony Vauss and Public Safety Director Tracy Bowers had nothing but good things to say about the township’s response to the first big snow of 2018.
“I’m very proud of our Department of Public Works. They did a great job, not only with the snow but with the storm we just had,” said Vauss on Tuesday, March 13. “We had almost 50 downed trees. We had trees on houses and all types of things. Our crew was out there and they were just slicing and dicing.”
Vauss said he doesn’t have any accurate measures for the amount of snow that fell on Irvington from Tuesday, March 6, through Wednesday, March 7, but it was enough to warrant a first-rate response from the township’s Emergency Service providers.
“I don’t have the official numbers, but it was quite bit. Gov. Phil Murphy did declare a State of Emergency, so all of our snow-related expenses will be defrayed to a certain extent,” said Vauss. “It’s like 15 cents on the dollar. But the important thing for me is that everybody worked together as one unit. Everyone was just on top of their game.”
Vauss also said the recent snowfall made him glad he decided to buy the three one-man mini-snow plows back in 2014, during the early days of his administration, specifically to address the challenges of plowing Irvington’s narrower streets that had previously been hard to get to, get through and get plowed using the conventional plows on bigger trucks and municipal vehicles.
“I always call them Bobcats, but they’re Case Skids-Deeres. Bobcat is a different brand,” said Vauss. “It was a good investment. Even around the Municipal Building, now one guy can clean out the Municipal Building and parking lot with one of those Skids-Deeres.”
Bowers also praised his Public Safety Department personnel in the Police and Fire divisions for standing tall during the almost two-day-long snowstorm.
“The coordinated efforts between the various departments allowed us to keep the roads as clear as possible to respond to emergencies and storm-related events, like downed trees and power lines,” said Bowers on Tuesday, March 13. “All in all, together, we did a great job under the circumstances. We received many good compliments form citizens for our efforts.”
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