Plenty of plows, too few drivers

NORTH ANDOVER — When the snow falls for real in North Andover this winter, there will be a shortage of drivers and equipment available to remove it from the roads.

It’s a national problem with some unique local characteristics that were recently described by Department of Public Works Director Jim Sanford.

“I think this is the worst I’ve seen it, and I’ve been doing it over 30 years,” he said.

North Andover’s DPW has 50 employees, about 25 of whom operate and maintain snow plows. But the town relies heavily on contractors to clear roads and parking lots, Sanford said.

“We don’t hire individual plow drivers, we hire contractors with the equipment,” he said. “So we have a number of local contractors who have the equipment, but they can’t fill the plows with drivers, so they can’t commit to us. That’s what the problem has been this past year.”

Where the town could typically mobilize as many as 100 pieces of equipment in a storm, ranging from pick-up trucks to huge loaders outfitted with plow blades, they don’t have that many this year.

“We’re short about 20 pieces of equipment,” Sanford said.

He is confident they will be able to handle whatever winter has in store, but thinks the shortfall in drivers will have an impact on how the work gets done.

“The issue is, it’s probably going to take longer, and that’s a concern for us, because kids have missed so much school because of Covid, and we don’t want to be the reason kids’ buses can’t roll,” Sanford said. “We have a core group of employees who are familiar with the streets,” and many of the town’s contractors also know the area well, he said.

While the dearth of drivers is acute right now, Sanford said it shouldn’t be included along with other labor shortages that have materialized during the pandemic.

“It’s not Covid,” he said. “I can’t pin it on Covid.”

Sanford has discussed this situation with DPW directors from other towns, and said they agree that there is increased competition for drivers in part because there are more areas to plow.

“Think of all the malls and all the shopping plazas and housing complexes that have been built over the past 20 years,” he said.

“We’re in competition with that. If you’re a small contractor, what would you rather do, work for a town that’s not going to guarantee you a certain amount of hours, or sign with a building development, where you don’t have to worry about traffic?”

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To make matters worse, one of the contractors North Andover usually hires retired last year, taking 20 pieces of equipment along with him, although Sanford said he later called to offer the services of “a few pieces.”

But Sanford attributes many of the shortages to a shift in attitudes among young people who do this and other kinds of work for the town.

“We have seen a decline in applications for municipal openings over the last number of years,” he said. “We’re trying to figure out why this is happening. Is it because the younger generation is not interested in this type of work, it’s not technical enough for them? I think there’s a shift.”

Historically, municipal jobs have attracted people because of the stability they offer, along with gradual advancement over time, Sanford said.

“Now, I don’t know if the younger generation is concerned about building a career,” he said. “’I want the job now, and I’m concerned about the here and now, I’m not concerned about 30 years from now.’ I think that’s just a shift.”

When it comes to plowing snow, the DPW has addressed the problem in part by offering as much as a 30% increase in pay for drivers, Sanford said.

“That’s so we could stay competitive, and not lose any more contractors,” he said.

But Sanford also said that, while North Andover’s DPW already hires engineering interns, they want to start a program at technical schools to get young people interested in a variety of jobs offered by the town.

“One of the biggest areas we’ve had a need from is water treatment in the water system,” he said. “It takes so long to get certified, there’s a shortage.”

The program will also try to impress on youngsters that there are rewards to working for municipalities that go beyond stability and longevity.

“It’s an environment where we’re more concerned about doing a job than anything else,” Sanford said. “You get to see projects from start to finish. You get to see improvement over the years.”

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