Hats off to Superintendent Bill Dashnaw and his crew at the St. Lawrence County Highway Department for the quick and efficient replacement of the bridge on County Route 40, or West Hatfield Street Road as it is called in Massena.
The bridge was closed just four weeks ago for a replacement project that was supposed to take six or seven weeks. It opened at 10 a.m. on July 7.
County Route 40 runs from State Highway 56 north of Raymondville in Norfork, through a corner of Louisville and into the town and village of Massena where it turns into West Hatfield Street. It eventually becomes East Hatfield Street and then the North Raquette River Road.
People to the south know it as a shortcut to the St. Lawrence Centre Mall in Massena and the Mohawk Casino in Akwesasne.
I call it the street that runs in front of my house.
As I understand it, the type of bridge that was put in place is faster and cheaper to construct than more traditional bridges and this is only the second one of its type in New York State.
Mr. Dashnaw gets special credit for the creative and cost-effective work done on this bridge. Unfortunately, he will soon be leaving the county job to pursue other opportunities. His background before the county was working in the private sector.
The county legislature would serve us well by remembering that when they hire Mr. Dashnaw's replacement. Government has a tendency to promote someone to fill a job like this rather than bring an "outsider" in. The private sector background is important because it means the new hire will have spent a great deal of time working to make improve things for his or her employer. It may be a gross generalization, but I feel many public sector officials tend to have a "this is the way we've always done it" attitude and don't look for newer ways to do things.
Guess we'll have to wait and see what happens when Mr. Dashnaw retires at the end of the year.
www.slcwatchdog.com
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ReplyDeleteJuly 9, 2011
Who really runs St. Lawrence County? Is it the Legislature? No, they're too busy going from doing nothing to suddenly freaking because we're broke and we need more money.
Do the Democrats run the county? No, they're too busy trying to attack Patty Ritchie over the sales tax issue. So they can say "look how bad she is, and she trained Mary Lou Rupp. So vote for our guy Regan".
Do the Republicans run the County? Nope. They haven't done anything but run and hide, or better yet roll over, play dead and say "we try, but the Democrats are doing this".
Does Karen St. Hilaire run the County? Well, considering all the blunders I hope not. Like purchasing several hundred thousand dollars worth of cars we didn't need. Then having no clear plan on how to use them. No clear plan on how much the maintenance and upkeep would be. Then, when given the task of doing the right thing and saying "no county employee gets to take a vehicle home", she came up with the bright idea of driving the cars to a school or fire station near the employee's home and parking it there. That saves money? The only thing it does is keep the taxpayers from seeing a fleet of vehicles we can't afford sitting in the county parking lot. The funny thing is, it has only enraged people more, because now more taxpayers see more cars scattered all over and they are left wondering both why it is parked here and just how the hell many cars does the county have?
So who runs this county? Actually, one man. County Highway Superintendant Bill Dashnaw has for years, with his system of B.B.S. which is the Billy Buddy System. Promotions are based on the buddy system, not on merit of employment.
He bought a gravel pit with $500,000.00 of our money without so much as a blip to let us know what he was doing.
Did anybody see any info before the County took over the Pike Road? No!
Now we also have to deal with these "cheap" bridges he's building. Well folks, fact is these new bridges will last about 5 to 7 years. It's simple hydraulics. The bridges are layered textile, then gravel, then concrete, then all over again, until the height is met. Well, what happens to water when it freezes? It expands. So simply put, water gets into the layer then freezes and expands. Spring runoff pushes the gravel out, or moves it to leave a bigger pocket for more water. When it freezes again, it moves the bridge more. This will both lift the bridge above the black top and, when water gets behind it, push the base out so it will be structurally unsound.
But our clueless legislators buy right into it. Why? Because they don't go and watch what's going on. They just wait for Bill's BS report each week and swallow it.
Now with his retirement looming, his next coup is to get one of his buddies, (a local highway superintendant) to replace him. This will do two things. It will allow his buddy to retire after a few years with a much better retirement. Plus Bill is starting a consulting firm. So he gets to retire at $80,000.00 per year, and still continue running the highway department at consultant rates.
The Legislature is quick to attack the workers at the highway department over costs. But the fact is, the waste is one man's responsibility, along with mismanagement and theft. Highway department vehicles being driven home, shopping, to doctor appointments.
We have 15 legislators scattered throughout the county. The Highway Department works all over the county. Yet not one legislator ever stops to question, not one legislator ever goes to the highway department to see what's going on. So we the taxpayers continue to pay for mismanagement. So yes, one consummate politician runs this county and 15 amateurs let him.