Truck issues stall snow removal; Eagle Scout completes project
by Kathleen Steele Gaivin
Feb. 14 trustees meeting
A new dump truck with salt spreader that Sagamore Hills Trustees recently purchased is causing problems, according to Trustee Paul Schweikert. The $50,000 truck missed the first two major snowstorms of the season due to a mechanical issue, he said.
Even after warranty-covered repairs were completed, Service Director Bill Cuprak found an apparent hydraulics issue had not been corrected.
“So, we’ve got a brand-new truck sitting there, and they have to go through conniptions to get the bed lowered and to get these guys to come out [and do the repairs],” Schweikert said. “They claim they changed the valve.”
He said the service department took the truck out for the second storm, and experienced the same issue as before. After leaving the truck “literally in the street,” the department took the backup truck, only to have the salt spreader on the backup truck “quit on them.”
Schweikert said the township has ordered an additional 500 tons of road salt so they won’t be caught flatfooted next winter. Sagamore Hills ordered 1,400 tons for winter, and are able to go over that initial order by 20% at this year’s price. Since it’s been a bad winter, and next year’s cost is unknown, Schweikert said it makes sense to get what they can now. The current price is $72 per ton.
He predicted, “Costs will be jacking up next year.”
Eagle Project
Boy Scout Nicholas Dodds of Troop 575 reported that he completed the work on his Eagle Scout project. The young man built upon his brother’s Eagle Scout work from 2018. The elder Dodds constructed a regulation bocce court at Sagamore Hills Park, and Nicholas enhanced the setting with the addition of five shade trees, two composite benches and a stone path. The materials were purchased through donations he raised for the project.
“The point of this project was to make the bocce court a little more inviting,” he said.
“It looks really good,” Trustee John Zaccardelli said. ∞