On Monday when a sudden snowstorm blanketed El Paso County, less than two-thirds of the county’s snowplows were on the road. The others were down for repairs.

It’s a symptom of an aging fleet that will only get worse because the county can’t afford to replace the equipment, county officials say.

“January 12 illustrates a number of problems we have with the infrastructure here at the county,” Commissioner Wayne Williams said. “Our problems aren’t limited to the transportation infrastructure in terms of roads, but also equipment. As they age, they’re less likely to be working.”

Facing declining sales tax revenues, the county has curtailed spending, including on its snow-removal fleet.

Some of the county’s snowplows date to the time of the Carter administration and have logged up to 450,000 miles, but there’s no money to replace them. The county used to spend about $1.5 million annually replacing equipment every 10 years. But last year and this year, only $623,306 is being spent to acquire 10 graders.

That leaves fleet superintendent Tom Delia and Mick Schloesser, fleet foreman, and their crew of 14 mechanics with the chore of making sure they have enough trucks running when the call comes.

Some are so old the parts have to be specially made. Delia said a few years ago, an axle needed replacing but didn’t arrive from the supplier until four months later – after the snow season had passed.

That’s why Schloesser said the county’s welders have taken to fabricating some parts in-house. It saves money and gets the trucks back on the road faster.

Those are among the steps taken to maintain a readiness rating of 77 percent, said public services director Tim Wolken. That means 77 percent of equipment is available at any given time. The goal is 80 percent to 85 percent.

Besides Monday’s storm, when 15 of 40 snowplows were down, six other storms between Dec. 4 and Jan. 8, have caught the fleet at a significantly low level, from eight to 11 trucks out of service.

What keeps Wolken up at night is the likelihood that more trucks will fail the longer they’re pushed. County trucks do pretty well in the first 12 hours of a storm, he said, but if they stay on the road for 24, 36 or 48 hours, more breakdowns occur.

“These trucks are out there working in one of the harshest environments imaginable,” Schloesser said. “They go 14 hours straight, then it’s right back out there. They don’t have a chance to go home like we do.”

Crews work round the clock, if necessary, melting down caked-on ice before repairing a light, plow harness or any number of problems.

“There’s a level of frustration with keeping these units running,” he said.

The snow-removal fleet is representative of the county’s entire fleet of about 420 wheeled vehicles, which has 71 pieces of equipment between 15 and 38 years old and another 78 between 11 and 14 years old.

Although the county’s crews work miracles on the equipment, Wolken noted it’s a costly battle. Fleet department data show it costs $6.30 per hour for parts and labor to run a 3-year-old dump truck, compared with $28 per hour for a truck that’s 12 years old.

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Contact the writer: 636-0238 or pam.zubeck@gazettedev.gazette.com  

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