Winter has come to Davidson, which means shorter days, colder temperatures and a lot of the white stuff covering the streets, sidewalks and driveways.

The Town of Davidson is prepared for any snow that may fall to the ground this winter, as the budget that ends Dec. 31 has lots of funds left for snow removal and the town will do whatever it takes to keep the roads safe from January to spring, said a town official.

Gary Edom, administrator for Davidson, said the town budgets $10,000 a calendar year for snow removal by Davidson personnel and another $5,000 a year to hire outside contractors in case of a major snowfall. He said the town currently has $7,000 left to cover their own snow removal expenses and the full $5,000 to cover out-of-town contractor expenses until the New Year.

“We will do whatever it takes to get rid of (the snow) to make the streets passable,” said Edom. “We’ll do whatever we can do ourselves and if we have to hire more help we will.

“Our own crew does most of it unless we get really buried. We have our own snow blowers and our own trucks and loaders. We do it ourselves unless we can’t handle it then we bring in either Wright’s Construction here with their big loaders or (a construction company) in Craik to help us with their loaders and trucks to haul it away.”

Edom said the snow from Davidson’s streets is hauled to an area by the Communiplex right next to Highway 11 where in spring it melts and flows into a highway ditch then under the highway and into the reservoir by the water treatment plant.

“It’s just a natural run for it in the spring when it melts to get rid of it,” he said.

The town “normally” clears four blocks of the downtown area to the snow dump, but also blows snow from residential streets into nearby “boulevards” to keep it from packing up. Davidson also sands and salts the streets, but usually only around stop signs and corners to keep the melting agent from building up.

To read more please see the November 26 print edition of The Davidson Leader.