Highway Superintendent Dan Baker and the Town of Coeymans

Lori Lovely – PROFILE CORRESPONDENT - July 2024

Some days, his crew gives him a hard time for taking phone calls when there's work to be done, but Dan Baker, highway superintendent of the town of Coeymans, firmly believes in serving the local residents, and that includes communicating with them — listening to their needs, their praise, their gratitude, and, at times, their complaints.

"I enjoy talking to the community," he said. "I pushed hard for communication. I want people to know their voices are being heard."

If he can't take a call, he said emphatically, "We will respond to messages."

And, because he also wants to give back to the taxpayers, Dan will sometimes "redirect resources" after a phone conversation if he thinks he and his crew can address an issue and rectify a situation immediately.

That sort of fluidity in customer service can result in his crew skipping tree trimming if a tree is "iffy" and the homeowner is staunchly averse to having it pruned.

"It's a case-by-case basis," he said, but he'll never forget one call from an unhappy homeowner after a prized cherry tree that had been on her property for generations was trimmed. That call influenced his present-day mindset on tree trimming, as well as on customer service.

Campaign Trail

The Coeymans native first took office as highway superintendent in 2021, appointed in February. He had to run for re-election that November to finish the term of his predecessor, who retired suddenly due to ill health.

To take the job, Dan had to resign from the town board, where he held one of four elected seats. Not only did he forge important connections on the board, but it also was good experience for what was to come.

"The board basically runs the town," he said, listing duties such as financial oversight, voucher approval and creating local laws.

"I always worked for the good of the community," he added. "I pushed for a public comment period at the beginning of every meeting, so people don't have to wait through the whole meeting to comment."

It gained traction, he said, and was popular with the public.

Not only did he bring that spirit of open communication with him to the highway department, but he also credits his tenure on the town board for helping him in his current position.

"I know how to make the town board members understand our department's needs," he said.

While he was campaigning for the office, the biggest complaint he heard from constituents was about the highway department garage. When the general public doesn't see the crew out and about, they tend to wonder what they're accomplishing. Dan wanted to make sure the public knew his crew was working for them.

Today, he said, "everyone loves to visit the highway garage." And if they aren't able to visit, they can read his social media posts that detail what the crew will be working on each day — part of his pledge of transparency. "I wanted to get the message out about what we're doing. People look for my posts and if I miss one, they ask about it."

Managing People

Prior to serving on the town board, Dan worked at Lafarge/Holcim, the town's cement plant, which is one of the biggest employers in the small town located south of the state capitol, Albany. Starting as a union millwright, he moved into management as a maintenance supervisor, leading people.

"I acquired skills in managing budgets and employees and working with unions," Dan said.

They're skills that serve him well as a highway superintendent who leads by example.

"I don't expect my guys to do anything I won't do," Dan said.

He's been known to jump in a ditch when necessary. "I've had a Class A license for 40 years, so I've run a plow when one of the guys can't make it in."

Even when he has a full crew on the six plow routes covering 51 lane miles, he's out there plowing with his pickup, always supporting his crew.

Appreciative of his crew, which consists of a deputy supervisor, six operators, a shop mechanic, one trainee and three part-time seasonal employees, he praises their attitudes and work ethics.

"They're the ones doing the work — and they do a good job," he said.

Paving, Other Projects

Working 7 a.m.-3:30 p.m., Monday-Friday, the highway department maintains three gravel roads, 106 paved roads, two parks and four cemeteries in the town of Coeymans in southern Albany County.

Road paving is an ongoing task. "A lot of our roads are in rough shape," Dan said. "Every year, we pick a few roads to re-pave."

His CHIPS allocation of $225,000 enables him to continuously work on the roads in his town.

While they let to bid the paving work, Dan's crew first completes necessary culvert replacements.

"It is a humongous injustice to repave a road without replacing the pipes," he said. "There's little point in paving over a rotting corrugated, galvanized culvert that could collapse, taking the roadway with it."

Dan also doesn't think there's much point in replacing a rotting corrugated, galvanized culvert with a newer version of the same, which is why he uses recycled plastic smooth-bore corrugated culverts. The plastic culverts don't retain debris and are not suitable hosts for beaver dams, so water flows freely to its destination. "You want water to go where it belongs," he said.

Other reasons Dan prefers them include their lighter weight, which makes for easier installation, and the fact that they last virtually forever. The department replaces a lot of culverts every year and is currently working to replace 60 ft. of 6-ft.-diameter culvert.

Water is a theme for the Coeymans highway department. Dan applied for and was awarded a $30,000 grant from Albany County for soil and water restoration along a streambank for erosion protection. There was steep run-off in three areas, he said. The highway crew installed new pipe and large rock to redirect and slow down the flow of water.

Although he declares himself not a grant writer, Dan also was awarded a safety grant this year for $3,000 to purchase new road signs, cones and hardhats.

"If it's a big grant, I probably couldn't do it, but these were simple," he said. "I just had to describe the work, the equipment and the labor needed to do the job."

Inventory

Given a sizeable crew and an annual budget of $1 million, Dan's equipment list is relatively short, although the department makes up for some of it by sharing trucking and equipment service with the town of New Baltimore and the village of Ravena.

Their equipment inventory consists of:

• Four pickup trucks
• Two small F350, F450 trucks
• Seven large plow dump trucks
• Two wheel loaders
• One roller
• One Gradall excavator — 29 years old and $400,000 to replace
• One skid steer
• One mini-excavator
• One backhoe
• One welder
• Torches
• One press hydraulic
• Shop tools
• One vehicle lift

Everything is housed in either the main garage or the parks garage, facilities that were built in 1934. And once a year, everything gets routine service. Nevertheless, the fleet needs updating, Dan said. Their main loader is a 2008 model and two of the plow trucks are 2007s. "They've got rust, rot and salt. It's time to replace them."

When he gets around to replacing them, he said he might take the old equipment to Auctions International to recoup a little money, although he has been known to keep some equipment for back-up because "even new stuff breaks down."

Although recent snowfall totals have been below the average 60 inches per year, Coeymans can get some residual Ontario Lake-effect snow. The concerned superintendent doesn't want equipment failure when his crew is out plowing, so having a back-up gives him peace of mind, especially considering the school buses and the hills in town where a population of 7,200 have to get around.

He's currently waiting on a new plow truck for 2025/26 and has dreams of a 45 or 50 series mini-excavator because he said they need something bigger than their 35.

From Winter Weather to the Beach

Despite enjoying snowmobiling with his family at their hunting camp in the Adirondacks, Dan is much less fond of snow on the job. "We have cameras outside the garage. I don't sleep much in the winter because I constantly check them for snow."

His worst days are when the plow trucks get stuck or when the town braces for an ice storm. To prepare for the inevitable winter weather, he stores 300 tons salt and 300 tons mix.

Vacations for the Albany County Association of Superintendents member, Dan, Aimee — his wife of 15 years — and their kids are often spent along the coast of Maine, where he said the beaches can't be beat.

Weekends in town are busy, commonly consumed by accommodating the busy sports schedules of his children, Isla Lee and Dannie, who are active both in school sports and travel sports, necessitating frequent road trips.

There's plenty to see and do around town, with Coeymans Landing Park, Joralemon Park and nearby Schodack Island State Park. During the summer, there's the Evening on the Green concert series.

Local historical attractions include The Martin Van Buren National Historic Site in nearby Kinderhook — home of the 8th president — and the Valley papermill. Coeymans Landing — now the Hamlet of Coeymans — was the first settlement. Situated along the Hudson River, commerce and industry quickly developed. Mills were one of the first industries in the area, along with ice harvesting, ship building and brick making. In fact, the town founder, Barent Pieteres Koijemans, was an apprentice at a mill owned by the Van Rensselaers shortly after his arrival from Holland in 1639. In 1673, he purchased the land and obtained a patent. Coeymans was formed from part of the town of Watervliet in 1791.

The Port of Coeymans was built over the former site of the Powell and Minnock brick plant along the river. Bricks have given way to cement: The Lafarge Cement Plant has become the primary industry in town, generating approximately 1.8 million tons of cement annually.

Campaign Trail, Revisited

The town manager-turned highway superintendent takes pride in delivering high-end service to the taxpayers of Coeymans and making sure the roads are safe. He enjoys talking with residents and solving problems.

Because he likes working for the public, when Dan's current four-year term expires in 2025, he plans to run for office again, campaigning on communication, transparency and making the community better — in other words, all the things he's currently accomplishing. P