Highway Superintendent David Miller and the Town of Lockport

Town of Lockport Highway Superintendent Dave Miller and his crew were taking a lunch break while doing a paving job a few years ago. He grabbed a bite at Ted’s Hotdogs.

By Lori Lovely PROFILE CORRESPONDENT

“While sitting there, I could hear someone choking,” he recalled. “I looked around and saw just about nobody else there, so I asked her to slide out of the bench.” He then proceeded to use the Heimlich maneuver on her. It saved her life.

It’s rare for a highway superintendent to hadn’t been plowed, leaving thousands of residents trapped at home. continued on page 12 from page 9

“Everyone was out plowing, so I took the high lift — the big loader,” Dave said.

Once he got to the trailer park, the fire chief jumped into the cab with him, bringing along his GPS to help guide them. They found the man in his car, attempting to drive himself to the hospital. While the chief attended to the man, Dave plowed a turn-around for the ambulance. He’s convinced that clearing the road for ambulance access saved the man’s life.

Another project in the works is a box culvert replacement on East High Street, but some of the superintendent’s favorite projects are construction jobs he and his crew do for the town, such as remodeling the town hall and bathrooms, building a new pole barn, garage and gazebo and many other projects that save the town money.

Prior to 2011, Day Road Park had only portable outhouses. Estimates for a contractor to install a restroom were around $250,000. Instead, under Dave’s guidance, the highway crew did 80 percent of the work — subletting plumbing, tiling, exterior cultured stone work and electrical service — for a cost of just $82,400.

The town purchased a 30-foot steelwork octagonal structure in 2014 for Day Park. Dave’s crew poured the concrete foundation and put together the prefab kit — subbing out electrical work. The project cost continued on page 18 from page 12

$24,000, minus an $8,000 donation.

Four years later, the town put up a heated, finished 24-foot by 36-foot garage, a portion of which they rent to the New York State Troopers to use for storage and plate-reader cars as part of a lease expansion. The town did the bulk of the work on this project — excavating, concrete, roofing, siding, drywall, painting and trim. They subbed out electrical, insulation and garage door installation. Total cost of the project was just $27,325.

The same year, they erected a 32-foot by 48-foot pole barn to be used as a storage facility in Day Road Park. Once again, the department did all the work except the garage door installation, including using a 30foot-reach telehandler, purchased from Bureau of Federal Property Assistance (excess government military equipment). Bids for this job came in at $104,000, but Dave spent only $34,408.

Grant money helped pay for the Snyder Road sidewalk project. Bids to install sidewalks from Shimer Drive to the Y on Snyder Drive came in at $144,800. After buying the sidewalk forms to do the work, costs when the project is completed are expected to be under $40,000.

Building a Background

Lockport was able to save so much money on building projects due to Dave’s background in construction. Fresh out of high school, he worked at Frontier Stone for five years, making cement blocks in the block plant.

When the quarry closed, Dave got into construction, working for others and running his own company with a focus on residential and commercial construction. After approximately 20 years in the industry, he was asked to consider becoming Lockport’s highway superintendent.

“Lou Hagen [then-highway superintendent] came to see me about cutting grass,” Dave said. “He was getting ready to retire but had nobody lined up to take his place. He told me, ‘I’d give it to you in a minute.’ I thought about it for a week.”

At the end of a week, Dave became Lockport’s deputy highway superintendent. With a mere three months of training under his belt — which did not include any winter plowing, he pointed out — he assumed the top spot.

Carving His Own Path

Dave’s first year in office was 2010. One change he made was to alter the brush pickup schedule.

continued on page 24 from page 18

“When I first got here, we would pick up brush only three times a year,” he said. “I changed the policy to pick up brush once a month: March through November.”

The change was intended to provide better service. He said that if residents missed the first pickup, they complained about the length of time until the next one. So, every third Monday, nine times a year, he shuts down paving work to pick up brush.

“I saw a need for more frequent pickup. We work for the residents. It doesn’t matter what projects we do, as long as it’s for the good of the town.” continued on page 30 from page 24

Pleasing the townspeople is important. In addition, Dave enjoys a good relationship with the town’s board in large part because he saves so much money on projects, but he also has a good rapport with the other towns throughout Niagara County.

“We work with pretty much all the towns in Niagara County,” he said. “We share trucks and equipment throughout the year, especially during paving season. It wouldn’t be unusual to see five or six different town trucks lined up at one town’s paving job.” continued on page 38 from page 30

A member of the Niagara County Association of Superintendents of Highways Inc., Dave also is the current president of the New York Association of Town Superintendents of Highways Inc., where he is extending his network of cooperation and community. Many of the 934 towns in New York are part of the group.

“We have a strong association and provide a lot of services,” he said.

During his one-year term, he’ll visit other counties and address the highway school and Cornell. He also hopes to revamp the association’s bylaws and initiate better connections with the vendors by including them in meetings and decisions.

He’s also prepared to meet with state senators on budget issues, in the hopes of increasing their CHIPS allotment. Lockport’s CHIPS amount is $339,199.84 (out of a total operating budget of $3,010,650, which includes: EWR — $44,740.59; Pave NY — $54,436.80; and Pop — $36,291.20). “It’s not enough,” he said.

Despite funds from Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act (part of the Inflation Reduction Act), he said costs have increased to such an extent that they offset the additional funds.

“There’s been an increase in the cost of fuel, blacktop … we need money for roads, bridges and culvert.”

Budgets, Buildings, Big Equipment

Dave manages Lockport’s highway budget judiciously. While he does buy a big truck every other year, much of his equipment is older, like the 50-year-old paver.

“A new paver costs $450,000,” he said. “That’s two years’ budget.”

Instead, he added, they “maintain equipment the best we can. We just keep fixing it.”

Key in that enterprise is lead mechanic, Barry Kibbe. Not only does he schedule all vehicle maintenance and log maintenance records in the computer, he also explores parts options to save money. And if he can’t find it, sometimes he can make it.

“Our mechanic wired up lights on each end of the front plows on all our big trucks so the drivers can see the edges of the plows, especially in bad weather,” Dave said.

The department’s current equipment list includes:

• 2020 Chevy Silverado pickup continued on page 44