Mayor praises Poughkeepsie blizzard response but says it was a big financial blow

POUGHKEEPSIE – A half million dollars is the rough estimate of what the biggest blizzard in many years may have cost the City of Poughkeepsie. 
Mayor Robert Rolison gave a detailed account of the timeline during Monday night’s Common Council meeting.  He said planning began Monday, a day before the storm moved in.  The city was ready when the storm hit early Tuesday.
“In the early morning hours on Tuesday, at 2 a.m., our Department of Public Works started their operations in the city and they worked continuously around the clock until Sunday at 4 p.m.,” the mayor said. 
That involved about 50 DPW employees, working 12-hour shifts, and all 14 pieces of major equipment from dump truck to pickups.  Even every shovel was put into service. 
A call to the governor’s office paid off, with some state help, including the National Guard.  Dutchess County also made equipment available.
Rolison said the city simply does not have the kind of equipment in its own garage to cope with a two-foot blizzard.
“This is what it takes to do this kind of work in the timeframe that we did it and it doesn’t come without cost,” Rolison said.  “So, preliminarily, the number that we are looking at to pay for this is upward of $500,000 or more.”
The mayor said “this is our responsibility” to get the city back to normal as quickly as possible. 
Also noted were sixty cars that had to be towed to allow the equipment to get in.  There were over 50 accidents during the storm even though the mayor said most people used common sense and did not try to drive.