Lack of Snow Has Enabled DPW to Catch Up with Other Maintenance

For the Department of Public Works, winter means plowing.

But Frank Miller, superintendent of the Parks and Highway Division for the Wellesley DPW, said the town's plows have remained parked this winter.

Miller said his crews have only plowed once this winter – during the Jan. 21 snowstorm that dumped about 3 ½ inches. They’ve been out to sand and salt roadways only four times.

“Actually it’s been a positive,” he said in a phone interview Thursday.

His workers have been busy, he said, just not with snow control. DPW crews have been patching up potholes, pruning public shrubbery and keeping storm drains clear.

The DPW is typically authorized around $340,000 annually for snow and ice removal. Last year, the DPW was given to deal with the over during winter 2010-2011.

“Last year by this time everybody was exhausted,” he said. “We’d been out an awful lot by this time.”

Wellesley Patch reader Liz Cioci said in a comment on the Wellesley Patch Facebook page she wouldn't mind a snowless winter.

"I'm completely thrilled by the lack of snow!" she wrote. "Even though I was born and raised in New England, I've never been a winter person."

Miller said there are still at least two winter months left, and his crews will be ready – even eager – to plow in case there is a major snow even before winter is over. There could even be some snow tomorrow.

“It all evens out,” he said. “Some winters you get a lot of snow, some winters you don’t.”