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City of Oswego in Good Shape for a Snowy Winter City of Oswego in Good Shape for Snowy Winter

DPW officials say a high employment and new applicants are helping the city.

By Ronald Parrillo

PARRILLO: IT’S NOTHING NEW FOR CENTRAL NEW YORK…

RICE: “This is the start of it, we know, this is what we have for the next four months. We won’t see the sun for the next four months.”

PARRILLO: LAKE EFFECT SNOW HAMMERING THE REGION FROM PULASKI TO CORTLAND THIS WEEK, LEAVING SOME SPOTS WITH OVER TWO FEET! AND WHILE IT DOES CREATE THAT WINTER WONDERLAND, SOMEONE HAS TO BE OUT THERE TO CLEAN IT UP…

RICE: “We run 24-hour shifts, 7 days a week during the winter season, and that’s what our man power is based on. Everyone in the municipality who is up here… you’re based on what you need to get your streets plowed.”

PARRILLO: THE CITY OF OSWEGO SITS RIGHT ON THE SHORELINE OF LAKE ONTARIO, SO THEY’RE NO STRANGER TO GETTING PUMMLED WITH THIS WHITE STUFF. AS A MATTER OF FACT, THEY GET ABOUT 12 FEET EVERY SEASON, AND RIGHT NOW I’M STANDING IN ABOUT FOUR INCHES OF IT… BUT, COMMISSIONER TIM RICE IS NOT CONCERNED ABOUT FINDING DRIVERS TO CLEAN OFF THE ROADS…

RICE: “We have a lot of applicants right now. Actually, I’m interviewing another kid Thursday morning. But, we have the interest here.”)

PARRILLO: UPSTATE CITIES LIKE SYRACUSE FACED A PLOW DRIVER SHORTAGE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON, BUT RICE SAYS OSWEGO ISN’T HAVING THAT ISSUE THANKS TO A CERTAIN GROUP WHO ARE VERY EAGER TO GET BEHIND THE WHEEL OF SOMETHING BIGGER THAN THE FAMILY MINIVAN…

RICE: “Right now, you have a young kid who wants his CDL, you have him on the wing, and as he gets more comfortable, we get him on, you know, actually driving the plow.”

PARRILLO: RICE SAYS RESIDENTS CAN REST ASSURED THAT AS LONG AS THERE’S SNOW, SLEET, OR SLUSH, THERE ARE WORKERS READY TO THROW DOWN THE SALT AND LIFT UP THE PLOW… IN OSWEGO, RONNIE PARRILLO, N-C-C NEWS…

OSWEGO, N.Y. (NCC News) — It’s time for the snow in Central New York. Lake effect snow bands impacted towns from Pulaski to Cortland from Monday night into early Wednesday morning. It left some areas of the North Country with over two feet of snow. No matter how pretty it is as it falls from the sky, someone has to be on call to clean it up.

Tim Rice, The City of Oswego’s Department of Public Works commissioner, says this snowfall is nothing new in The Port City of Central New York.

“This is the start of it, we know, this is what we have for the next four months. We won’t see the sun for the next four months,” Rice said.

Rice said the city’s plow drivers are ready 24 hours a day, seven days a week to start plowing, sanding, and salting the roads. At times over the season, drivers work three to four weeks straight. Rice said the drivers do whatever it takes to get the streets down to the bare pavement.

Oswego sits nestled on the shoreline of Lake Ontario, the lake so famously blamed for the random assortment of snow that’ll start on a Tuesday at 2:30 in the afternoon. The city averages just under 12 feet of snow each season. It’s a tough number to envision, but Rice said they have the drivers to clear that 12 feet off the roads.

“We have a lot of applicants right now. Actually, I’m interviewing another kid Thursday morning. But, we have the interest here,” Rice told NCC News.

The city of Syracuse was short almost 20 plow drivers a few weeks ago, but Oswego hasn’t seen that problem. Rice said the ages of those wanting to drive is dropping, and that more young people are looking to help plow out their neighbors.

“Right now, you have a young kid who wants his CDL (Certified Drivers License), you have him on the wing, and as he gets more comfortable, we get him on, you know, actually driving the plow,” Rice said.

Rice said the city trains the young drivers, but the best experience is behind the wheel and on the streets of Oswego. Rice said that for as long as it snows, there will be people ready to pick the plows up and throw the salt down.

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