This year’s delayed winter was perfect for one Clearfield County borough, as it got its hands on two crucial pieces of snow-removing equipment following a fire.
A new snow plow truck is now clearing the streets here in Mahaffey and officials say it came in just in time.
“The truck, we picked it up Monday of last week, and the skid steer was delivered on Friday of last week, so we got it just in the nick of time,” says Mahaffey street commissioner Dan Wright.
Wright says after spending his career at PennDOT, eliminating snow is in his blood.
On Oct. 23, a fire at a borough garage destroyed the only plow truck and skid steer in the 350-person borough.
And here’s the new skid steer, used to load gravel into the back of the plow!
The council vice president says the plow itself was in a different building, so it was saved to be mounted on the new snow plow truck. Now, Wright is on the road again.
“We put Dan in charge of it all and he took care of it we got a new skid steer and a new truck,” says council vice-president Gale Sherwood.
“The biggest part of it came from the insurance that we had on them,” says Wright.
Wright says the used 2005 plow truck and spreader cost $28,000 and the skid steer about $41,000.
He says insurance wouldn’t cover all the cost of a new skid steer, so some may be paid through the general fund. For Wright and two part-timers, the timing is priceless.
“It really, really came in handy the past couple days,” says Wright.
“They did a fine job yesterday. They worked all day to get the town cleaned up,” says Sherwood.
“The truck worked great. Of course, the new skid steer was no problem. It was a real good. It was a life-saver for us,” says Wright.
Officials say they also lost some summer equipment, deeds to the park and borough-owned buildings, and many other old papers in the building that’s now been demolished.
“But I don’t know what they were and we probably never will now!” says Sherwood.
Wright says they had to use a contractor in Westover when they had some ice and would have had to use his services again if the new machines hadn’t come in before the first snow.