WURTSBORO — Several members from the Town of Mamakating's Highway Department were present at last week's meeting in response to the board's May 21 vote “to terminate the snow control agreement [with the county] in order to achieve significant cost savings.”

According to the last submitted town contract, dated November 13, 2018, the town would be responsible “for snow and ice control on County roads, including town line bridges and within the Town [for] a total of 33.01 miles” from July 1, 2018, to June 31, 2019.

For said services, the town would be compensated at a rate of $6,185.13 per mile; however, the board felt that such payment was not sufficient enough to cover the actual costs related to cleaning and maintaining roads during cold months.

Bill Lothrop, Deputy Fire Coordinator for Battalion 5, called the board's decision a “wrong move” and expressed his concerns about the safety of not having cleared roads for volunteers and residents during hazardous road conditions. “If you think you're saving money,” he stated, “you're not.” He requested that the board reconsider their decision.

Thomas Morrow, 2018 Sullivan County Fire Advisory Board member, read a statement that also questioned the board's vote. “I feel that this [decision] can be construed as nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to lay off some of the louder and more critical voices of the highway department while saying it's a financial issue.” Furthermore, he called the board's motion to be a “knee jerk” decision and that such change is “not about money at this point; it's about safety.”

Town Supervisor Bill Herrmann clarified Morrow's and other's concerns that on October 16, 2018, the board had discussed requesting more money from the county to cover the costs associated with snow and ice removal. According to Herrmann, Mamakating receives approximately $200,000 from the county when in actuality, the town spends $500,000.

When the board discussed canceling their contract last October, “The county said to us, ‘please do not cancel the contract because we don't have time to ramp up hiring people and training people,'” stated Herrmann. “And so we took the contract to get through the winter. So, we have canceled the contract and requested more money from the county to continue. We have not laid off any employees. Every highway employee is working.”

Later in the meeting, Herrmann stated that Mamakating was not the only township to terminate their county contract and noted that approximately 30 percent of the contracts were canceled due to similar financial reasons.

Councilman Nicholas Solomon commented, “I want to go on the record that I was against canceling the county contract.” Solomon expressed his concerns that it would take a long time for county workers to attend to town roads, “jeopardizing public safety, ambulance, and state police and sheriff department.”

The town has requested that the county renegotiate the contract.