This wasn’t the type of winter Chum Cleverly hoped for as he rode into the sunset that is retirement.

With record-setting snowfall hitting New Hampshire, departments in Bow have been dealing with plenty of the flaky white stuff with more inevitably on its way before spring moves in.

Cleverly, Bow’s Public Works director, is in his final winter before retiring this summer. Although he’s seen bad winters before, he said the department is struggling with the large amounts of snow.

“We’ve used two to three times the diesel fuel than we do most other Decembers. It’s been exhausting. (On Friday, Jan. 4,) I (had) four guys who are out sick and two others who should be. It wears on them,” said Cleverly, who has been with the department for 24 years.

Before any given storm, the 13-man department makes sure the equipment is in running condition. As the storm starts, workers do a pretreatment of roads with a sand and salt mix, which helps drivers get some traction on the road until there’s enough to plow.

When there’s enough accumulation, Cleverly and the 12 other drivers begin the plowing process, which takes about four hours to complete the entire town. After making one trip, the drivers make another and continue the process until the snow stops.

Workers don’t have too much time to recover in the days that follow.

“We have to do some shelving which pushes the top part back and gives a place for the next snow to be stacked,” said Cleverly. “Intersections are getting narrow and hard to see around, and fixing that will use up our time until the next snow fall and we’ll start again.”

During storms, Public Works’ schedule begins with the pretreatment and ends four hours after the final flakes have fallen. Cleverly said if this winter’s snow continues, the department will have to move money from another account and into the winter maintenance fund, something he said has been done before.

Public Works Department members said driving slow during poor conditions is the most important technique, as they often see cars off the road.

Bow Police Lt. Dave Girard said the busiest days the department had were Dec. 12 and 13. During the two-day storm, the department received calls on four accidents as well as 11 cars off the road, stuck or needing assistance. The accidents in December were on par with other years, but, Girard said, they had to call the Highway Department to clear roads after hours 10 times this December, compared to only twice in 2006.

School closings
The Public Works Department also helps make the decision on the minds of many youth in town as well.

On a day when snow is in the forecast, Bow Superintendent of Schools Dean Cascadden’s morning begins early. Cascadden lives in Bristol, so Cleverly phones him in the morning to alert him of traveling conditions. In addition, the school uses a service run out of Maine called Precision Weather that alerts Cascadden of any weather issues.

In most cases when snow is falling, Cascadden begins his research at about 5 a.m., as he also takes into consideration what other schools have closed or delayed opening.

“It probably takes a half hour to an hour to decide if school will be canceled or delayed between checking the weather and looking into everything,” said Cascadden, who said his decision often comes under scrutiny. “It’s never right. That’s the hard thing, but you try to err more on the side of safety.”

Cascadden said during the last storm he received feedback that he had called off school too late, with some employees already beginning their trip to school.

“I had to apologize that Thursday because I canceled so late. Some people got up and were on their way to work. So I said I’d try to make the decision earlier. It’s a tough decision and you have to take responsibility for it,” he said.

After deciding to cancel or delay, Cascadden posts the decision on WMUR’s Web site, alerts radio stations and begins a phone tree to get the word to school employees.

Beginning next year, Cascadden said he believes the school will have an automated phone alert system to make the process of getting the word of cancellations out easier.

The superintendent also said the decision should ultimately come down to the parents. “One thing I believe is that you as an individual, you have to make a good decision as what you’re going to do. If you think it’s too dangerous whether we have school or not, you should stay home,” said Cascadden, who also joked he has accepted the weather as part of New England life. “If you live in New Hampshire, it’s what comes with the package.”

Although Cleverly said he has gotten used to the climate of New Hampshire, he also said the record December snowfall isn’t the ideal way to wind down the clock on his career in town. “It’s absolutely not the way I hoped to head into retirement,” he said. “I was hoping for palm trees to start growing in Bow.”