#ThankYou Highway Department

Today's shout out is to some friends from the Highway Department!

Meet Nick (left) and Kyle (right). When the pandemic reached NY and lockdowns occurred, the Highway Department closed down parks, town sports fields, and other non-essential public places. They no longer blocked roads for public events (e.g. parades) because all have been cancelled. They turned their focus instead to essential work such as continuing to pave/maintain roads, sweep streets, and clean/disinfect public spaces. Employees staggered their scheduled hours to reduce the amount of people working at a time, and limited truck capacities to one person. Additional precautions included limiting lunch rooms to two people at a time, requiring mask wearing for the duration of work shifts, daily temperature checks, and requiring hand washing throughout the day.

Kyle began working the night shift, during which he sanitized public spaces like police stations and City Hall. In spite of all of the new precautions, Kyle and his family unfortunately all contracted COVID-19. Thankfully, they recovered with no long term effects.

We are so grateful for Nick, Kyle, and everyone who works for Highway Departments for continuously adapting and for working to combat the pandemic by keeping our towns clean!