After receiving much criticism for their poor snow removal following the Dec. 30 storm, the Town of Hempstead engaged Levittown resident Frank Scarangella, a former deputy commissioner for the highway department, to make recommendations to improve the speed and quality of the town's snow clearing efforts. As the second significant snowfall of the winter hit this past weekend, these recommendations were implemented and the number of complaints from residents were significantly reduced.

In studying why the town's snow removal in the first storm was less than satisfactory, Scarangella interviewed all the frontline equipment operators and met with all the personnel, many of whom had not previously experienced a major snowstorm during their tenure with the town. Among the recommendations from Scarangella was making sure that personnel was properly trained in snow removal techniques. Town of Hempstead Supervisor Richard Guardino explained, in an interview with Anton Newspapers, that since 1996, the last winter when Long Island experienced a significant snowfall, much of the town's personnel turned over, in part due to retirement incentives offered by the town during that time period. Scarangella, himself was one of the employees who retired during this time. This turnover, said Guardino, resulted in new employees who had not yet experienced snow removal during a major snowstorm firsthand. The supervisor stated that staff training was one of the earliest recommendations by Scarangella, thus giving the town the opportunity, in the three weeks between the two snowstorms, to act upon this recommendation. He noted that snow plow operators practiced by clearing town parking lots, giving them an extra bit of training, making this last storm the third snow removal job for the newcomers. In addition to this hands-on experience, the town also purchased a video about proper snow clearing for the employees to watch.

Other significant recommendations made by Scarangella included putting a layer of sand and salt down as soon as the snow begins, something Guardino says they were not able to do during the December storm, because it was so fast-moving; making more extensive use of the steel plows rather than the rubber ones; and freeing up the supervisors so they are not operating the heavy equipment. This last recommendation, Guardino explained, was because when the supervisors are operating the heavy equipment, not only is it more difficult for them to supervise, but, because they are sitting in a larger vehicle it is harder for them to see the roads and see the actual conditions of those roads, especially at night. Other recommendations included finishing plowing the sectors of the town before responding to resident calls, unless an emergency situation exists and reminding residents to remove cars from the curbside when snow is expected and to ask residents, if they must shovel snow into public roadways, to deposit it to the right of the driveways as they face the street so when the plow comes through it will redeposit the snow to the left of the driveway apron rather than into the driveway apron.

Guardino called Scarangella's report "very helpful" and said that, by acting upon the consultant's recommendations immediately, the town did a much better job this time around. "That operation is back on track and we're going to keep it on track," said Guardino. He added that the town has learned from the mistakes that were made in the first snowstorm and they will continue to review the snow removal operation and follow through with Scarangella's recommendations.

Though the Town of Hempstead Board approved a $15,000 consultant's fee for Scarangella, a move that angered Town of Hempstead Democrats who called the first snowstorm a "political plum for a Republican Committeeman," Scarangella waived that fee and issued his report as a free service to the town. In response to the question of why Scarangella chose not to bill the town, Guardino stated, "I think that Frank took a lot of pride in that department and was genuinely interested in helping us out. He worked there for 40 years. He actually ran the snow removal operation and he was just sincerely interested in trying to assist us." When asked why it was necessary to hire a consultant when the current commissioner of the highway department has been in that position for nearly 20 years, Guardino noted that, when there is a problem, sometimes it is important for someone from the outside, who can be objective, to come in and review the operation. While able to look at the situation with an objective eye, Scarangella also had enough experience with the department to see what the differences were in the operation since the last snowy winter.

"I consider this to be a success story," stated Guardino. "We realized that we made mistakes, we took action to find out what they were, and then we corrected them."