We Know Who Is Paying For The Flaggers, But Who Is Paying For The Dump Trucks?

The Colarusso pavement miller filling a Town of Stockport
dump truck on Washington Street in Hudson this morning. 

Tomorrow or Wednesday, on Washington Street, Colarusso will be wrapping up this year's repaving of portions of a few streets in town thanks to funds from the NY State DOT CHIPs program that our Hudson DPW is the beneficiary of every two years.  This year, Colarusso will be receiving over $600,000 in funds for their work. 

According to their website, Colarusso is a "heavy highway contractor -- creating infrastructure, roads, bridges and ports."  This morning on Washington Street, while their milling machine was busy chewing up and spitting out old asphalt into waiting dump trucks, it was interesting to see who else was in attendance besides Colarusso's workers, machinery and vehicles.  

Town of Stuyvesant truck and employee 
on Washington Street working
with (for?) Colarusso

Town of Stockport truck and employee on 
Washington Street with a full load of old asphalt

Not one of the 6 or 7 dump trucks removing Washington Street's asphalt to Colarusso's facility on Newman Road had a Colarusso logo on it. Strangely, the Town of Stockport was helping out with a dump truck and employee of their own. The Town of Stuyvesant was also paying an employee in a town-owned dump truck to cart asphalt from a Hudson street to the Colarusso site in Greenport and repeat the process over and over.  Presumably, Colarusso is paying those two towns for their services -- paying them a portion of the $600,000-plus that Robert Perry procured for the repaving of sections of a few of Hudson's worn streets.  I also saw one dump truck from the Town of Ghent as well as three owned by private contractors being used.  All of this (not free) assistance because Colarusso could not supply their own dump trucks and drivers to repeatedly cart old asphalt to their own nearby facility and, eventually, truck new asphalt from their facility to our streets. (While I never saw it being filled with unwanted asphalt, there was a Hudson DPW dump truck nearby. I also counted a total of five DPW employees helping Colarusso out.)

How much is J&R Contracting being paid to help out?

 

Who is paying for the private contractors 
to help out with their dump trucks --
Colarusso or the City of Hudson?

DPW provides a dump truck for Colarusso's
$600,000-plus project, but Colarusso can't 
provide one of their own.

Last week while Colarusso was repaving the upper portion of Columbia Street, I noticed three Hudson DPW employees doing traffic flagging work at separate intersections. At one point, two of the Hudson DPW employees were smoking cigarettes while standing and directing traffic or waiting to move a barrier to allow a car or truck to pass. This morning, on and near Washington Street, there were at least two DPW employees attending to traffic, one of them vaping.*  At least three other DPW employees were assisting Colarusso.  And while I didn't notice any Colarusso dump trucks, I did notice the orange DPW dump truck at the side of the road waiting to do something.

DPW flaggers on upper Columbia last week

DPW employee flagging for Colarusso's
$600,000 project.  Standing there all day.

Hudson DPW will soon be paying Colarusso and Sons over $600,000 for their repaving work, yet they have not provided one employee to be a flagger or to direct traffic. Apparently, Robert Perry wrote up a contract allowing Colarusso to not provide flaggers (or dump trucks) of their own. Sure, Perry's DPW employees have nothing better to do for two or three weeks than to stand or sit around smoking whatever and directing traffic for Colarusso.

It's a good thing that National Grid and their contractor, Mullen, have been providing their own flaggers since their gas line replacement work under our streets and sidewalks began in July of last year.  Today, Mullen is working in the 500 block of Warren and on Union near 4th Street, while National Grid is tearing up the 300 block of State Street to replace more gas lines there, a job they started on Friday.  As well as their own flaggers, Mullen and National Grid supply their own dump trucks -- the way one would expect things to be done.

A Mullen flagger on Union, not a DPW flagger!

A "heavy highway contractor" without dump trucks of their own?  Boy, that doesn't sound right.  Hey, wait a minute!  Isn't that the same "heavy highway contractor" embroiled in lawsuits and continual controversy with the City of Hudson over the issue of their own enormous dump trucks using and damaging our streets, particularly on the Columbia Street truck route, which is almost entirely in need of repaving?  Yes, it is the same "heavy highway contractor!"

How much of the $600,000-plus in state tax money meant to repave our streets this year will be going to the towns of Stuyvesant, Ghent, Stockport and the few private contractors providing dump trucks and drivers for a project which Hudson hired Colarusso to handle?  Or is the City of Hudson paying for those dump trucks and drivers out of our own pockets?   Does the $600,000-plus in repaving funds eventually headed Colarusso's way not include the cost for the use of dump trucks because Colarusso can't provide any of their own dump trucks and drivers?  How would anyone besides Robert Perry know? 

DPW employee in DPW truck, standing guard 
all day at 6th & Prospect for Colarusso's project on 
Washington Street one block away.  For this we 
pay the employee $20 an hour or more?  Prior to 
taking the picture, I saw the employee tell a driver 
on 6th to turn around and head back to State Street.