Editorial - Smithtown's Highway Department Gets Us Through The Week

Recent events at Town Hall have cast a pall over town government negatively tainting the perception of the leadership, responsibility and concern for the public by some of our elected officials. A special Town Board meeting during Thursday’s snow/ice/rain/snow event could have prevented the public from attending. For many (myself included) there was more than a little anxiety about driving and parking at the meeting venue. But thanks to Smithtown’s Highway Department, not only were the roads clear, the parking lot at Smithtown’s Senior Center (the site of the meeting) was plowed and accessible for the attendees who filled the center. An amazing accomplishment given the fourteen inches of snow that fell.

Even though there are four and a half weeks of winter remaining,  Smithtown Matters would like to acknowledge the work being done by the Smithtown Highway Department. Snow removal is not an easy task. Keeping the roads clear of snow and ice has certainly been a challenge during the 2013-14 winter season, but  Superintendent of Highways Glenn Jorgensen and the men and women of the department have risen to the challenge and gotten the job done. 

Although most residents will acknowledge that they would prefer not to see another Smithtown Highway truck out plowing for the rest of the winter, it is the highway workers that we look for as the snow begins to fall. It is you who we bemoan when the bottom of our cleared driveway is plowed-in and needs to be re-shoveled, but it is also your work that allows us to get to our jobs, grocery stores, schools etc.. And, it is the Highway Department workers that clear the way for  emergency vehicles to get to hospitals, fires and accident scenes. 

This weekend the weather service is predicting an additional 2-4 inches of snow in our area . By now everyone should know the commonsense rules: don’t obstruct the path of the plow by parking on the roads, don’t tailgate plows and sanders, don’t shovel snow into the road and when there is limited visibility don’t go out. Hopefully knowing the rules translates into following them.

Enough said. Although people are often readily available to criticize, good work is not often publicly recognized.  Kudo’s to the Highway Department employees and private contractos for allowing Smithtown’s drivers to get through the week, and the 2013-2014 winter. 

Pat