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2017-08-02 / Local
$375K grant to buy equipment for stormwater, drainage maintenance
SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — Stormwater catch-basins could soon be looking cleaner following the announcement Tuesday that the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation has awarded the town of Springfield a $375,000 Ecosystem Restoration Grant.
The Southern Windsor County Regional Planning Commission assisted the town in applying for the grant, which will be used to purchase a truck-mounted combination high-pressure jet and vacuum machine. The equipment will be used to clean municipal stormwater catch-basins, wastewater manholes, culverts, pipes and other infrastructure.
“Vacuum trucks are versatile pieces of equipment that can be used for a variety of tasks including storm and sewer cleaning, culvert cleaning, leaf pickup and stormwater treatment practice cleaning,” said Jeff Strong, director of public works for Springfield in a press release. “Over the long term, having a locally owned high-pressure jet/vacuum machine will save the municipality considerable dollars by not having to contract out the work, as well as by reducing the number of costly emergency responses by increasing preventative maintenance.”
According to Strong, the project will serve the dual purpose of protecting the state’s water quality by removing road sand, silt and trash from drainage structures before it can be washed into rivers and streams and by increasing the level of preventative maintenance of municipal infrastructure and thereby protecting the municipality’s wastewater line structures from failure or clogging.
Hear that noise? That sucking sound you hear from the town and your tax dollars will soon be replaced by the sound of a vacuum truck cleaning stormwater culverts with your tax dollars. Behold the power of free money(your tax dollars) for Springfield. Perhaps they should place the names of those responsible for creating a Springfield dependent solely on tax dollars and grants upon the side of the great sucking beast when it arrives? That would serve as a great reminder of those who destroyed Springfield as it circles the drain.
ReplyDelete$375,000 is the equivalent of one and one-half cups of Dunkin' Donuts coffee per week per Springfield household-- for which we get freedom from having our cars swept down streets by a flash flood caused by backed-up catch basins and perhaps freedom from typhoid and cholera as well. Of course, there are those who would rather live the short and brutish lives peasants often lead...
ReplyDeletei can't afford Dunkin Dounut's coffee as it is
DeleteYou and your worn out cup of coffee argument. Maybe you ought to go get a coffee enema to clear your throat. Vermont and its towns need to wise up and begin reallocating the excessive social services budgets to real capital and infrastructure projects. Send the free riders elsewhere in search of government handouts and get back to maintaining our streets, roadways, water and sewer systems - and instituting some real lawn and order again. That's when you'll begin to see the right kind of people and business attracted to the town.
DeleteWell if our cars aren't swept down the street, they'll surely be falling apart. I can not believe that of all the streets in this town that need pavement, that they chose to pave Fairgrounds Road again, as well as "Recycling Road". And the fact that they continue to award paving contracts to a company that typically paves driveways, you will continue to see the new pavement fall apart at the seams. Is the Public Works Director blind? Valley Street is already falling apart. Litchfield Street is pathetic. Summer Street - also a joke, it's almost worse than it was before. Hartness Avenue is worse than third world countries. 30 years worth of pothole fillers. Take a right or left onto Woolson, Wall etc. - and you're transported to World War 2 Poland. The list goes on and on. The town wants us to take care of our property, and with what we pay in taxes, they sure as hell should be held to the same standard.
ReplyDeletea lot of our dirt roads are in better shape then the paved ones,i was just asking someone the other day,if Fairgrounds road was just paved a few years ago
Delete@11:22, I couldn't agree more. Why are we awarding paving contracts to firms that will not stand behind their work? The only explanation is kick backs and corruption. It wouldn't be the first time a Springfield public works director was embroiled in such a debacle.
ReplyDelete