Last winter, the Kenton County Engineer's Office had eight seasonal positions open. The job includes snow plow and salt truck operations. Public Works Supervisor Rick Buster says they were only able to fill two of those positions, and there are fears it might happen again.
âEven if you wanted to contract it, youâre not guaranteeing any amount of work on the low end or the high end," he says. "Thereâs a shortage of snow and ice removal (workers) across the state.â
Buster says this year, they're going to be stretched thin. âItâs hard for government to compete with Amazon and FedEx and these companies that are offering a lot higher wages. Itâs hard for us to compete on that wage level.â He says the lack of benefits doesnât help either.
Buster says it's tough, but Kenton County is trying to attract workers. âWe try to make it a little bit proactive on the front end to say âif you come in with your class-B CDL (commercial driverâs license) you would start at $19 an hour, and youâd get a dollar pay raise every month,â he says. âSo youâd start at $19, youâd end at $24. If you came in with a class-A CDL, youâd start at $20 and end at $25.â
Kenton County is responsible for removing snow and ice from about 300 lane-miles of road. Buster says other than worries about finding enough drivers, the is ready for winter, with close to 3,000 tons of salt on hand, and new storage and application tanks for calcium chloride and salt brine.
