3 Reasons Why We Should Salute Our Public Works Dept. (audio)

On today's edition of 'Let's Talk,' Great Barrington Town Manager, Jennifer Tabikan was the host of the show. She discussed a variety of topics with a variety of guests. One of the guests she spoke with via phone was Superintendent of the Great Barrington Department of Public Works, Sean Van Deusen.

Sean checked in with a report on what kind of shape the roads were in coming off last night's/this morning's snowstorm. He said that the main roads were clear and in great shape so the buses could travel on them. The side roads were/are a bit slick and greasy. However with the temperatures hovering at 30 degrees, the salt is working. Those side roads, though may be slick, aren't suffering from a hard pack of ice, mainly just slush.

He mentioned how much work his crew was putting in and here are the three reasons why we should salute the Department of Public Works.

(1) Sean's crew was done working at 9:30/10 pm on Tuesday evening but had to come back to work on clearing, salting/sanding the roads at 3 am this morning (so they are operating on 5-6 hours of sleep)

(2) The crew works tirelessly during any snowstorm to make sure the rest of us can travel safely on the roads.

(3) Think of the holidays we get to enjoy with our families. Take Christmas last month; Christmas Day was a winter wonderland but the public works crew didn't get to spend Christmas morning with their families, they were out treating the roads and didn't get home to their families until late.

Some excellent words from Sean about his crew in this youtube clip from Jennifer's 'Let's Talk' program this morning (also a tip of the cap from guest Ed Abrahams):