The past two snowfalls have resulted in an improbable amount of overtime for Lehighton’s Public Works Department.

At Monday’s borough council meeting, Mayor Ryan Saunders thanked the borough’s Public Works Department, police department, fire department, and Lehighton Ambulance for their “hard work and efforts” during the recent snow emergency.

“Everybody did a (great) job of communicating,” Saunders said. “Most of the comments were more positive than negative (in the community).”

“At no point did I feel any of the roads were unpassable.”

Borough fire Chief Pat Mriss said that the fire department spent 350 hours personally staffing the station over a 48-hour period.

After the snow stopped, Mriss noted that firefighters left there and returned to their homes to tend to their storm cleanup.

Mriss said residents did a great job cleaning out areas by fire hydrants.

He also praised the borough’s Public Works Department for its nonstop assistance.

“The communication was great,” Mriss said. “They were able to assist EMS as well.”

Borough police Chief Troy Abelovsky offered thanks to the first responders for all the hours they put in.

Public Works Supervisor Kris Kunkle said that his department has only had one day off since Jan. 17-31.

During that period of time, Kunkle said the nine individuals who comprise the department have worked 1,171 hours; 720 regular hours, and 451.5 overtime hours.

In a related matter, Kunkle noted that the Public Works Department is in need of a truck after one of its dump trucks broke down Monday afternoon while doing snow removal.

Kunkle said it was a hydraulic issue, and noted they were trying to use one or two outside haul trucks.

Contacted Tuesday afternoon, Kunkle said the dump truck that broke down was sent out Tuesday morning, and added the department will be without it for an undetermined amount of time.

He said the department has three dump trucks, but only one of which is equipped that they can salt or haul and/or plow.

Kunkle added that the Lehighton Water Authority was gracious enough to allow Public Works the use of two of the water authority’s trucks.