Tony's crew works from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and consists of Keith Webb, foreman; Dan Pluff, machine equipment operator; Chris VanLare, machine equipment operator; Adam Cesario, laborer; Dan Smith, machine equipment operator; and Charles Cesario, part-time maintenance.
They are responsible for 40 lane mi. and 30 mi. of county roads - two roads are gravel and 38 are paved. The department also opens old drainage ditches to reduce flooding and uses approximately 3,000 tons of blacktop each year in the department's paving operation. In the winter, the crew plows four routes, which takes two hours to plow.
"We started a new road maintenance program about 14 years ago. Up until that time, we periodically touched up the roads with oil and stone... but I never agreed with this approach."
Tony explained: "As far as I was concerned, the first time I made a trip down the road with the plow, I was watching all that oil and stone roll off the wing. Soon after I took over as superintendent, we purchased a paver and started putting down a half-inch coat of asphalt instead of oil and stone." Tony refers to this as "shimming the road."
"The half-inch coat of asphalt sticks and holds and puts virtually a new surface on the road. We now shim every road in the town every three years and we have without question, the best looking roads in the area," said Tony. "In addition, the shimming process extends the life of the road before it needs major reconstruction by approximately 10 years.
"One of the reasons we can use this approach is that there are no major industrial facilities in our township that have a lot of large, heavy vehicles running across our town roads. By using this method, our roads never reach a point of total disrepair. Every three years, we're giving them a good makeup job," he said.
However, some of the work is shared with other municipalities, which includes hauling snow with the village of Canastota; plow roads with the village of Wampsville; and haul stone, cut trees and drainage work with Madison County.
In addition, the department is responsible for mowing three cemeteries and maintenance of a pump station and a skate park.
