BUFFALO, N.Y. — There are headlines from across the country reporting snow plow driver shortages from communities in Massachusetts to Michigan.
2 On Your Side checked in with a bunch of places on Wednesday to see how our staffing levels are here in Western New York. There are no big snow plow driver shortages to report here, at least with the municipalities we checked in with on Wednesday.
We checked with the New York State Department of Transportation, Erie County, Niagara County, and Amherst.
In Erie County, the Department of Public Works commissioner says there is not a staffing shortage when it comes to plow drivers. A spokesperson for Erie County tells us that the county has hired about three drivers in the last few weeks, and there are a couple of others in the on-boarding process.
The Town of Amherst Highway Department has 45 drivers on its payroll right now. If they have to go out driving, 40 people have to go out to plow to cover the town. So with just five extras, with sick calls, they rarely have that many extra people. The highway superintendent says they're good, but they're just barely good with the staffing levels right now.
"We are right at the minimum usually of what we put out on the road. We can afford to go a little bit lower. I have some supervisors that can drive if I had to, but we're always training people in-house to become drivers," Amherst Highway Superintendent Patrick Lucey said.
Lucey says there are also people retiring this year, so there isn't a lot of wiggle room. In Amherst, you can be hired without a commercial driver's license (CDL) and then be trained after you're hired.
Niagara County told us that hiring snow plow drivers is always a challenge, and this year they are competing with school bus companies, haulers, private contractors, and others for the same pool of people. The public works commissioner went on to say it is not their optimal way of operating right now.
The state got ahead of the game this year, with a big recruitment campaign with billboards to get enough drivers, so the NYSDOT is OK right now. They are still looking to add a few new team members to help with snow and ice, especially in the Southern Tier. You do need your CDL if you want to drive for the DOT.
"We cover obviously 24-7, so they can work up to twelve hours. And that may be seven-days a week, just depending on the weather events that we get that particular year. That's why we're always looking to pad our staff just a little bit more in the winter," NYSDOT public information Officer Susan Surdej said.
If you would like to apply to work for the NYSDOT, there are several open positions listed.