Popular Searches
Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
Share
Village works to remove what storms left behind
By Jamie Larson
VALATIE — In Valatie the scars from December’s disastrous ice storm are finally starting to fade. With the help of a couple donated wood chippers and a few able-bodied prisoners, the village took road clean up into its own hands this week.
With the highway department out plowing up storm after storm of snow and ice this winter, Valatie Mayor Gary Strevell said members of the village realized early on they would have to chip in to get rid of all the downed branches. Using chippers borrowed from the village and county highway departments, residents have been mulching for days.
“We are just trying to help out,” Strevell said, “recognizing this was an extraordinary event.”
Director of the Columbia County Highway Department Bernie Kelleher was also able to get the village a team of local prison inmates from Hudson to feed the chippers for four days. Strevell said he was impressed and extremely thankful for all the help from Kelleher and town Highway Superintendent John Ruchel.
The Village has been almost totally cleared of limbs, and now the independent contractor hired by the town to remove debris from the roadside is working his way through more rural neighborhoods. Strevell added that he felt obligated to do something because the brush piles created by homeowners next to the road for pick-up posed a concern to public safety.
“There was so much,” he said, “some piles walled off property from the road. If there had been a fire, firemen wouldn’t be able to get to the house.”
The village has applied for federal disaster relief to pay for the damage done by the storms. Strevell is hopeful it will receive some funds, but says the village has reserves to pay for the work if necessary.
He stressed that they didn’t have much choice but to help out due to the sheer amount of wood.
“Every time we would get it down another truckload would come,” the mayor said. “The pile is finally starting to shrink.”
on the bright side, Strevell pointed out, the community now has more wood chips than it knows what to do with. The mulch will be used in the spring for public projects and will also be made available to village residents for use at home.
With the highway department out plowing up storm after storm of snow and ice this winter, Valatie Mayor Gary Strevell said members of the village realized early on they would have to chip in to get rid of all the downed branches. Using chippers borrowed from the village and county highway departments, residents have been mulching for days.
“We are just trying to help out,” Strevell said, “recognizing this was an extraordinary event.”
Director of the Columbia County Highway Department Bernie Kelleher was also able to get the village a team of local prison inmates from Hudson to feed the chippers for four days. Strevell said he was impressed and extremely thankful for all the help from Kelleher and town Highway Superintendent John Ruchel.
The Village has been almost totally cleared of limbs, and now the independent contractor hired by the town to remove debris from the roadside is working his way through more rural neighborhoods. Strevell added that he felt obligated to do something because the brush piles created by homeowners next to the road for pick-up posed a concern to public safety.
“There was so much,” he said, “some piles walled off property from the road. If there had been a fire, firemen wouldn’t be able to get to the house.”
The village has applied for federal disaster relief to pay for the damage done by the storms. Strevell is hopeful it will receive some funds, but says the village has reserves to pay for the work if necessary.
He stressed that they didn’t have much choice but to help out due to the sheer amount of wood.
“Every time we would get it down another truckload would come,” the mayor said. “The pile is finally starting to shrink.”
on the bright side, Strevell pointed out, the community now has more wood chips than it knows what to do with. The mulch will be used in the spring for public projects and will also be made available to village residents for use at home.
Share this Article
 |
 |
|
| Cascino takes planning boards to court | New location, grant monies help HRCC close funding gap |
Article Rating
Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of registerstar.com.
You must register with a valid email to post comments. Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here: |
Become a Registered User |
