The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
District coping with aging equipment
Facilities director says district working on a 'wing and a prayer'
By Brian Cox, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: February 7, 2008
Following another snow day for the Saline schools last Friday, Doug Bacon, director of facilities for the district, is looking forward to the end of winter.
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Or at least to the end of snow.
Several heavy snowfalls this year have taxed the district's building and maintenance department, which is responsible for clearing 33 acres of parking lots and more than 10 miles of sidewalks, typically before 6:30 a.m.
Ten man-hours are required to plow the 14 acres of the high school parking lots alone.
"It's a massive undertaking," Bacon said. "Plowing is tough on equipment."
And much of that equipment is aging and in need of regular repair, he said.
The district employs two Bobcat skid loaders fitted with 10-foot snowblades, a 1977 John Deere loader with an attached 12-foot snowblade, a salting truck, and three smaller plow trucks. The John Deere loader, which was acquired after it was "retired" from the city of Saline, has 7,800 hours on it.
Bacon told the Saline Board of Education last month that his four-person department was "working on a wing and a prayer."
"We do pretty well with what we have, but it's getting more and more difficult," Bacon said.
Before last week's snow, which closed schools across Washtenaw County, the area's snowfall this year approached 28 inches.
And it's not just snow. There's ice to contend with, as well.
Saline schools closed for a day in December after administrators determined a severe ice storm had turned roads hazardous.
With 10 1/2 miles of sidewalk to de-ice, the district has access to 350 tons of salt at a cost of a $28.24 a ton through a partnership with the city of Saline. The district runs through approximately 24 pallets of salt, or 1,200 bags, at a cost of $8,800. The district's salt storage fee this school year exceeds $2,100.
It has been a tough winter for Bacon and his maintenance crew. And tough on their equipment.
"Our equipment doesn't get a lot of mileage," Bacon said, "but it does get a lot of hard use."
The cost of maintaining the equipment takes a toll on Bacon's budget. Replacing the tires on each of the Bobcat skid loaders, for example, runs about $2,000.
"What has happened is that as the school system has grown, we've lagged in equipment," Bacon said. "We're continuously repairing, putting on Band-Aids. You reach a point where it's not cost-effective to repair old equipment."
Estimating that replacing and upgrading his department's equipment would run about $500,000, money the district doesn't have, Bacon said he has not yet come up with a workable solution to the problem.
"I think we just have to pray for spring," he said.
Staff Writer Brian Cox can be reached at 429-7380 or bcox@heritage.com.
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