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ARMONK, N.Y. - Howard Arden's first project as North Castle supervisor is to oversee the North Castle Highway Department's brush pick up program.
After he was sworn in as supervisor Tuesday, Arden said he made arrangements for brush pick up earlier in the day.
On Wednesday, a crew was working on brush pick up on Sniffen Road and another on Mianus Drive.
Jamie Norris, North Castle's general foreman who supervises brush pick up for the Highway Department, said 70 percent of the town has to be done and there is a significant amount of brush due to the October snow storm.
"There's a size limitation on the amount of brush you are allowed to put out but people exceeded that because of the snow storm," he said.
Ordinarily it takes a week or less to complete brush pick up in a zone and North Castle has four zones. "But it took six days to do Evergreen Road because of the amount of brush," he said.
"We have three crews working on brush pick up and there's no outsourcing, which saves the town $10,000 per week," Arden said.
Arden said the town must spend its own money on brush pick up because no federal or state aid is available. "We got FEMA money for Hurricane Irene but none for the October snowstorm," he said. "There's some discussion about state aid but it's unlikely so we're on our own."
"In the short term brush pick up is very important, it's a safety and morale issue," he said.
The danger in the winter is for the brush to interfere with snow plow operations. "If the plow comes down and hits the brush piles it throws them into the road," Arden said. "And if the brush is blocking the street, where do you put the snow?"
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