From left, Connoquenessing borough council president Rob Campbell and council members Chris Logan and Jason Spear deliberate at the council meeting on Tuesday night, Feb. 6. William Pitts/Butler Eagle

CONNOQUENESSING — Residents of Connoquenessing borough expressed their frustration with snow removal efforts performed by a private contractor for the borough after the most recent snowstorm to hit the area last month.

At the monthly meeting of the borough council Tuesday, Feb. 6, multiple residents took the opportunity to complain about what they felt was substandard work of snow removal on the roads of the borough, at least compared to that of other municipalities in Butler County.

“A lot of the residents just feel like it wasn't done correctly, appropriately and thoroughly,” said council member Chris Logan.

“I know we don't get snow that many days throughout the year,” said resident Ryan Curtin. “But for the three to four days that the snow’s on the road, that’s a concern for safety, ambulances, fire trucks, anything like that.”

Residents complained the contractor failed to put the blade of the snowplow all the way to the surface of the roads, while also applying inadequate amounts of salt.

“There's a room full of people that are pretty disappointed with what's going on,” said council member Jason Spear. “There's children, there's people that walk their dogs, there's school buses, there's emergency management services that need to be able to come through there.”

Midway through the meeting, Spear — who is new to the council — volunteered to speak with the contractor personally to address the situation.

“This is not a monetary issue,” Spear said. “That's a character issue. That's an accountability issue.”

According to one resident, the contractor was the only one to put in a bid for the snow removal contract when it went up for bid for the past two years.

Mayor Raymond Betz, who was absent but attended by phone, mentioned the possibility that, when the snow removal contract comes up for bid next year, the borough may have to raise taxes to pay for it.

“(Residents) really do not want to raise taxes,” Betz said. “But we’re elected by the community, and if the community wants higher taxes to have better-treated roads, then that's something I guess we have to think about.”