Snow removal issues in Texas Township

By OWEN WALSH
Posted 12/18/19

TEXAS TOWNSHIP, PA — Residents complaining about a lack of effective snow removal; officials responding that they’re shorthanded. This conversation, which set the tone of Honesdale …

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Snow removal issues in Texas Township

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TEXAS TOWNSHIP, PA — Residents complaining about a lack of effective snow removal; officials responding that they’re shorthanded. This conversation, which set the tone of Honesdale Borough’s last council meeting, was echoed this week during Texas Township’s bimonthly supervisor’s meeting last Monday, the night before the second major storm of the season.

Township resident Don Hiller said that after the first snowstorm, he was driving on Bear Swamp Road and found that it was not plowed. When he called the supervisors, he was told that the other end of the township was being taken care of first. (Texas Township is divided into two parts on either end of Honesdale Borough, the northern end near Seelyville and the southern near White Mills).

Supervisor Don Doney said that after that first snow storm, the township had only one snow plow driver, Jay Branning, who also recently replaced Paul Sprague as a supervisor. Doney agreed that the roads are still in bad shape.

“The roads are a mess, I realize that,” he said.

Supervisor Dan Weidner said that everybody is having trouble finding drivers to hire for snow plowing, mentioning that Honesdale Borough is in a similar “pickle.” However, earlier that night the supervisors did hire another driver to use on an “as-needed” basis.

“What would you expect tomorrow morning?” Branning asked the public, saying that it will snow first thing in the morning and then rain later in the day. Instead of plowing the snow and then allowing ice to accumulate on the roads, Branning said it’s wiser to wait for it all to come down and then plow everything at once. “If it’s only snow, I’m sure [residents] can handle it,” he said.

Hiller said that every winter, it seems that the southern end of the township gets plowed before the northern end. He asked if the third driver, who had just been hired earlier that night, would be able to help plow after the imminent snowfall the next day, but the supervisors said that the township only has two trucks.

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