Finance Committee - 3/15/2017 Page 12
because 2-3 inches of packed snow is looser and therefore deeper. They were out today trying to clean up
and also do the trash. In general, | think overall they did pretty well but there were certainly areas where it
could have been better, especially around Fairgrounds and you refer to Ward 6 which is of course where
Fairgrounds is. Around Fairgrounds Middle School and the Elementary School, there’s fairly rough areas. I’ve
asked Director of Public Works Lisa Fauteux to get to those. I’d be glad to ask your specific question and try to
get you an answer.
Alderman Clemons
| appreciate it, and | appreciate the fact that we will be looking into it a little bit further. | had a couple of people
bring up to me the point that what if an ambulance had to get down or a fire truck, that kind of thing. It is
frustrating to see a plow go by on accross street continually and not at least make a pass. If there was one
request that | would make it would be that. If a plow is going into a particular neighborhood to not just do the
cross streets and the main throughway through those streets but to also try to get a few hours in some of the
side streets. If maybe some of that had been done, maybe some of the smaller trucks if that had been kept up
with, could have been utilized because they wouldn’t have to be plowing 12 inches of snow. I’m not going to
belabor the situation. | appreciate all of the work that public works does and | know the parks department also
contributes. | want to thank both of those departments for all of the hard work. It certainly was a difficult storm,
but | think maybe in the future we need to look at a different plan on how we tackle that.
Mayor Donchess
| appreciate your comments.
Alderman Wilshire
|, too, received a call. | know that public works and the park department did everything they could to manage
the snow in this storm even without the use of the smaller trucks but, | too, agree with Alderman Clemons that
maybe in a bigger storm like this we go out sooner. | don’t know what the answer is, but! did get a call from a
constituent about what she felt was delayed plowing of her street.
Mayor Donchess
What neighborhood was she from?
Alderman Wilshire
| would have to look it up. | don’t recall. | will let you know though.
Alderman O’Brien
Not that | disagree with Alderman Clemons and Alderman Wilshire, | just want to take a different tact. | do
realize there’s always room for improvement, but it was a difficult storm. We did almost reach blizzard
potential. To the plow guys that did go out there, | would like to tip my hat. They did pretty much an
outstanding job faced with some adverse weather conditions. We should take that equally into account. Also
take into account from what | hear there was a working fire at the Wendy’s up on Amherst Street. Our fire
department faced those conditions at that time. There were also accidents for AMR and Nashua PD, so it’s
very good to see that what we have for a city and what we provide for services met the task during the blizzard
so | complement them. Thank you.
