Whitefield’s snowplow contractor Steve McGee owned the hot seat Monday as several residents and selectmen aired their complaints at the board’s regular meeting. Selectman Frank Ober opened the discussion by saying, “People in town are very upset. They’re saying, ‘Fire him!'”
Unsafe, poorly plowed roads, Ober added, were the most popular topic at March town meeting.
“Your guys spent a lot of time in the Superette,” said East River Road resident Drew Sell, referring to the variety store in North Whitefield village. Sell added, “I feel I paid for something I didn’t get,” and asked to be compensated.
McGee replied that he’d spent all the money during the difficult winter; “the effort didn’t pay off. I can only apologize for the drivers sitting at the store for four hours. I didn’t know that until tonight.”
Cathey Sell said she never heard a plow passing her house at night. Her husband is a firefighter who needs to be able to respond to emergencies at any hour. There were two instances of fire trucks getting mired in slush or going off the road.
“Also,” Sell added, “whoever was running the small trucks was going down the road at 65 miles an hour.”
George Hendsbee, who lives on the north end of Rt. 218, used his own tractor to clear two feet of snow off the state aid road at 2 a.m. in the middle of a storm, he said. Even after McGee’s plow drivers showed up, and for the rest of the winter, the snow was not properly winged back and shelved, he said.
“In front of my house, half of one lane was impassable” for most of the winter, Hendsbee said.
Hendsbee also said he watched a truck go by, “sanding, with his plow up, and then it came right back, plowing.” Mail was knocked out of his mailbox. “We found it on the ground this spring,” after the snow melted, he said.
Besides the citizens’ grievances, select board chairman Steve McCormick presented a series of photographs taken by the Dept. of Transportation, showing sections of Rt. 218 not plowed to state standards.
The itemization of shortcomings, along with a log of 40 documented and many more undocumented complaints registered with the board, compelled McGee to promise better performance next season.
He assured the board he was replacing unreliable and inexperienced drivers, was engaging more locally based employees and spare drivers, and had hired highly reputable John Wilcox, of Windsor, to “take over the plowing responsibility. I’ve got a lot of faith in John as lead man,” McGee said.
The contractor added, “I don’t want to cause you any more heartache. We value the job and we’re sorry you had some disappointments. I believe I’ve corrected 85 percent of the deficiencies. I’d like to come back to you in September with a personnel list and a plan.” He asked to travel town roads with road commissioner David Boynton and Wilcox so that the new supervisor will “know what the assignments are.”
McGee is in the second year of a three-year contract. Hendsbee cautioned the board to “give this good thought” before voting whether to retain McGee. “If you start next winter and the same thing happens, you’re not going to get a contractor in here.”
It was noted that McGee’s price per mile is a lot lower than what plow contractors in neighboring towns charge.
Ober wanted more than verbal promises. The same issues kept coming up last winter and many were not addressed, he said.
After McGee and his son Seth left, the board voted to ask the contractor to submit a letter of intent, detailing all the assurances he made during the discussion. The selectmen will make their decision following receipt of the letter.
A third incident, involving Mooers’ inattention to operating a pumper truck while he photographed what he believed to be unsafe conditions, was found an appropriate cause for reprimand.
In a fourth incident, Mooers was found to have followed correct procedures in sharing his concerns about safety practices with his immediate supervisor; that incident did not merit disciplinary action, according to the report.
Mooers’ refusal to sign the letter reprimanding him did not merit suspension, the board found, and it set aside that suspension.
The board notified code enforcement officer Arthur Strout to investigate removal of a mobile home at 246 Vigue Road and its replacement with a modular home owned by a new occupant. Back taxes are owed on the mobile home and no intent to build notice was filed prior to installation of the new dwelling.
It was announced that Crooker and Sons will begin paving at the new fire station this week or next, weather permitting, and that Mark LaBelle, of Weeks Construction, will provide loaming services leading up to landscaping.
Selectmen scheduled a Kennebec Valley Recycling Committee representative to talk about a regional Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) proposal at the board’s May 23 meeting, starting at 6:30 p.m. The proposal would require having licensed haulers to collect solid waste and recycled items from their customers.
