GUILDERLAND — “I’ll be honest with you,” Bob Haver told the town board on Tuesday night as snow fell outside the meeting hall. “Today was my first day driving home with a snowstorm. I felt guilty.”

Haver had been second in command at the highway department where he has worked for more than three decades.

On Jan. 1, he became highway superintendent having won an uncontested election after Greg Weir announced his retirement.

The board was voting on upgrading highway worker Thomas Ridgeway to replace Haver in the foreman’s role.

Ridgeway would go from being paid $25.37 an hour to $34 an hour as foreman, according to a memo with the request that Haver had sent to the board.

“When I announced him to the guys, it was a standing ovation,” said Haver. “So the support of the men are there. The guys are all happy about it … He’s very knowledgeable. He’s a very hands-on guy, a great problem-solver — just what the highway department needs.”

Supervisor Peter Barber asked for an overview of the command staff to which Haver replied there are two foremen.

“It’s get up … at 2 in the morning, go out and check roads … Send trucks, depending on the storm,” said Haver.

He went on, “We try always to take care of main roads. Sometimes developments are our priority in the beginning, but, if it’s a big storm, everything gets done at once.”

The foremen, he said, work from a call list. “They call in proper personnel and dispatch in certain areas,” Haver said. “So, what also happens throughout the night is trucks break down, catch basins get hit, knocked off, things break.”

A foreman, he said, “makes all those decisions quick … always has a solution to the problem.”

The vote to appoint Ridgeway as a foreman was unanimous.

So was the vote for Haver’s other request, the purchase of a Kubota skid steer for roughly $111,000.

“It’s going to replace one of our existing skid steer that’s probably in service now for 20 years,” said Haver, adding that the decades-old skid steer would be sold as surplus.

A skid steer is a compact front loader with lift arms that can attach to a variety of tools. Haver said Guilderland’s skid steers are used for mowing, paving, and “taking care of stormwater issues, retention ponds.”

“It’s able to get in tighter spots,” he said of the skid steer he’ll purchase from Randall Implements Company. “We’ve been wanting this for probably five, six years now.”

He said of the highway department workers, “They’re all chomping at the bit, can’t wait to get this.”

Barber, noting it’s taken the town more than a year to get another ambulance, asked, “What is the turn-around?”

“He assured me that one was sitting there in the lot right now, waiting for approval,” said Haver, adding, “I’ve been talking to him for a month and a half about this.”

The skid steer will be bought under a state contract using state funds from CHIPs/Pave NY. CHIP stands for Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program.

“I think it’s a good price because I know milling machines usually go for half-a-million dollars or more,” said Councilman Gustavo Santos.

Haver said a track machine, like the one Guilderland is purchasing, is far more efficient. “There’s no comparison,” he said. “I mean, tire machines are just not where we need to be anymore, especially with all the retention ponds that are in the town of Guilderland.”

Other business

In other business at its Jan. 16, the Guilderland Town Board:

— Waived building-permit fees after a fire at 10 Jean Place and after a tree caused damage at 36 Velina Drive;

— Canceled its April 2 meeting since the meeting room will be used for voting in the presidential primary; and

— Heard from Barber that he plans to deliver his State of the Town address on Feb. 6.