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By Diana Bowley, Of the NEWS Staff - SHIRLEY - The local Department of Transportation garage will be mothballed this winter as part of a state reorganization plan. Despite concerns aired by Greenville municipal officials earlier this year when the reorganization plan was announced, the plan is proceeding. The road maintenance crew that previously worked from the Shirley garage during the winter months has been reassigned to the Guilford or Rockwood DOT garages, according to Roger Gobeil, DOT director of the Bureau of Maintenance and Operations. This winter, the Guilford-based crew will plow from Guilford to the traffic light in Greenville, while the crew based in Rockwood will plow from Rockwood to Greenville village, Gobeil said Thursday. "It's one of those things even we don't know how it will play out," Gobeil said. The reorganization will be evaluated next spring to determine whether the move was a sound one that improved efficiency. Gobeil said consolidation also has occurred at other DOT garages throughout the state. The garages that have been closed still can be used by crews if needed, he said. There have been no layoffs from the reassignments, Gobeil noted. Greenville officials are concerned about the difference in weather patterns from Greenville to Guilford to Rockwood and the delay that might occur in responding to bad weather in the region. The move to consolidate the work crews was a recommendation that came from several months of study by the department in an effort to improve efficiency and reduce costs, according to Gobeil. The recommendation was one of several that have been or will be implemented over the next several years. Other recommendations included creating a pool of supplemental snow "fighters" to reduce overtime costs and increase safety, evaluating the efficiency of winter bridge work, regionalizing central warehouse functions and reorganizing the Augusta office to provide a support function such as a procurement and technical assistance center. |