Roads Department hires 2 part-time operators to ‘fill in gaps’

Two new permanent part-time employees will start with the Henry County Roads Department today, Wednesday, Feb. 13, to fill in the gaps when the department is short snow removal operators.

Matt Schinstock and Michael Hartman were approved by the Supervisors at a meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 12, as part-time equipment operators. Hartman is a new hire who Henry County engineer Jake Hotchkiss said is 'a good fit” for the department. Schinstock is a former employee with the department and was hired mainly for weekend snow removal.

Hotchkiss said operators have been working hard and part-time employees can be called if a full-time operator is sick or injured. The department hires part-time employees during the summer to help with mowing operations.

Employees have to be considered permanent part-time for CDL random drug testing year around, which is a requirement by the state. Hotchkiss said his department has had three to four part-time operators in the past, but before hiring Schinstock and Hartman, they were down to two.

Last week, operators worked on fixing chains and servicing machines. They drove trucks to look for holding water from the quick thawing over the weekend from Feb. 2 and 3, and hauled sand to replenish the stockpile.

Operators picked at ice and worked on pavements throughout the rest of the week as freezing rain and sleet continued to fall and temperatures dropped quickly.

Hotchkiss said that gravel roads will remain 'tough” for a while, but drivers should have had better traction yesterday.

'We still got a lot of freezing rain last night, but I think conditions on gravel roads improved overnight,” Hotchkiss said.

Operators are keeping blades running to break up the ice and put down rock wherever they can to get texture on the roads.

Hotchkiss said they continue to get calls about icy roads, but they're all that way.

'We keep looking at the 10-day forecast, and it doesn't give me a lot of hope,” Hotchkiss said. 'We will continue what we can until we get a warming period where we can get (ice) off the roads.

'It's been a trying winter,” Hotchkiss said.