At an Evesham Township Committee meeting in early January, Mayor Randy Brown expressed great anger about the vast difference in quality he saw between local roads in Evesham snowplowed by Evesham Township and county roads in Evesham snowplowed by Burlington County.
Brown even went as far as to call the county’s performance an embarrassment.
To rectify the situation, Brown asked township manager William Cromie to look into an agreement with the county about the possibility of Evesham assuming responsibility for plowing county roads within Evesham in exchange for reimbursement from the county.
Before the next meeting and storm could occur, Cromie and county officials had already worked out a verbal agreement. Snow plowing duty for county roads in Evesham was officially the responsibility of the Evesham Public Works Department.
“Before the next storm we worked it out with the county,” Cromie said. “They pay us to salt and plow.”
Now over a month later Brown said that agreement was definitely the right decision.
“The agreement with the county worked out fabulous so far,” Brown said. “Our residents are happier. It’s because have such a high standard when it comes to safety.”
The agreement came at an opportune time, as this winter has broken records for the amount of snowfall and frequency of storms. Although Brown said a goal was to have the main thoroughfares cleared, the town would also ensure that local neighborhoods weren’t forgotten.
“We’ve added contracts to make sure local neighborhoods are taken care of,” Brown said.” The hardest part when you do snow removal is cul-de-sacs.”
Although the county fully reimburses the township financially for any work done to county roads, the large amount of snowfall means the town is still forced to spend large amounts of Evesham money treating the township roads it’s always been responsible for.
“Budgetary-wise we’ve already hit upwards of $300,000 already, which is a huge number,” Brown said.
Cromie agreed with the figure.
“We’re still figuring out overtime and equipment costs,” Cromie said. “I could say we’ve probably spent around that much.”
In the long term Brown said keeping costs down and taxes low were always a priority of his, but given the historic weather patterns, budget concerns would have to wait until spring.
“Our goal is always not to raise property taxes, but when you have snow storms of historic proportions it’s difficult,” Brown said. “We’ll see where it hits.”
However, in the short term Brown and the township are more focused on public safety.
“We’re not worried about the budget right now,” Brown said “We’re worried about keeping people safe.”
Regarding the rest of the winter, Cromie said one of the biggest challenges Evesham faces is similar to many other townships.
“We’re just trying to keep our head above water,” Cromie said. “We’re trying to keep enough salt.”
The county roads now being plowed by Evesham include: Evesboro-Medford Road, Tuckerton Road-Main Street, Old Marlton Pike. Maple Avenue, Taunton Lake Road and Marlton Parkway.
