Highway Superintendent Ron Maggs and the Town of Eden

Mary-Yamin-Garone — Profile Correspondent - April 2025

Ron Maggs is destined to go down in the record books.

At age 33 he became Erie County's youngest superintendent and for the past 29 years he has been serving as the highway superintendent of the town of Eden.

Ron has lived all of his 63 years in the town. In 1996, his interest in becoming its highway superintendent started when one of Eden's retired superintendents urged him to run.

Born and raised in Eden, Ron was the youngest of seven.

"As I grew up, we always went on family vacations and camping," he said. "My sister, Barbara, is the oldest, then Ken, Dave, Sue, Cathy and Linda. I was fascinated with anything with an engine — toys, go-karts, mini-bikes. I went to the races with the neighbor family. They got me interested in stock car races and hot rods. Anything with engines."

Ron graduated high school and then went to Erie Community College. After that, he helped his father with the family-owned printing company he started in 1972.

"I worked there right up until I got this job," he said. "I was there full-time for roughly 15 years. I worked as a shop foreman and ran the second shift for years. I also had people under me, and I learned how to delegate and deal with personalities and things that helped me with that transition."

Experiences Prepare Ron for the Job

"My experience with the family business was really it," he said. "I managed people and scheduled the projects. That helped me in that regard. The other big things were my mechanical ability and love for working on things. When developing my property, I had a backhoe and a little dump truck and learned while doing it. I had a little bit of knowledge but no real knowledge of drainage or road building. I learned on the fly. The guys were good to me, and I was good to them. They helped me learn and we did well over the years."

Family First

Ron and wife, Kathy, were both born and raised in Eden and have been married for 32 years. The family consists of two boys, "Corbin is 22 and Andrew is 28," Ron said. "I recently became a grandfather, Andrew and Pam had a baby boy, Owen, who is now one year old."

Kathy, a registered nurse, has been at Buffalo General Hospital in Buffalo for 36 years.

Ron also enjoys cars, boating, camping and tries to get in a little snowmobiling and skiing in between plowing in the winter.

The Department

According to Ron, "There's a main shop with an office, crew room, bathrooms and all that jazz. We also keep many of the trucks up here. The next building was a 60- by 200-foot cold storage metal building when I started. We fixed it up, insulated it and put a new floor down with radiant heat. This stores the rest of our equipment and things.

"Then, we made the back third of that building into our mechanical and fab shop with the welding and fabricating equipment including the press and gantry crane. We also put up a cold storage building that's 54 by 90 feet in 2007 with a stone floor. No amenities of any kind. There is also a 60- by 72- by 18-foot-high salt barn. This was built just before I started.

"It's been maintained and kept up," he added. "We also built a lean-to off the back for more storage. There's always a need for storing equipment between us, the recreation department and emergency services with generators and things like that. Unfortunately, everything ends up here."

Getting the Job Done

Ron gets help from his full-time employees who keep the roads safe for the town's 7,688 residents. Key staff includes Bill Sickau, Matt Colvin, Glen F Hoelscher and Glen T Hoelscher (father and son), Joe Flynn, Ellen Preischel, Howard Haag, John Brockman, Josh Bugenhagen and secretary, Cindy Kugler.

Keeping the roads safe for travelers is important to Ron.

Under his watchful eye, the town of Eden highway department functions on a total operating budget of roughly $2,000,000. Eden receives $255,000 from the Chips Program, PAVE NY, Extreme Winter Recovery and Pave Our Potholes.

As highway superintendent, Ron is responsible for 98.08 town owned lane miles and an additional 30.07 miles of county roads that they are responsible for plowing.

To get the job done the highway department uses a variety of equipment.

"I'm responsible for everything," he said. "Everyone is an MEO here and everybody does everything. Obviously, some are better at certain things than others, but they all take care of their own trucks. They all operate or drive or do labor or traffic control. We have talented employees that allow us to maintain 90 percent of our equipment ourselves."

When it comes to budgeting for new equipment Ron has a reserve account that $130,000 goes into every year. This has allowed the town to pay cash for all its equipment.

"We've laid out a replacement equipment schedule," he said. "As for our big trucks, we have five mainline plow trucks, and we buy a new truck every four years. That gives it a 20-year rotation. So, we're plowing with them for 20 years. Then, they go to a backup truck for a few years and then we get rid of them after about 28 years.

"It's a nice schedule that's working and then we have a rubber-track excavator and a rubber-tired Gradall for ditching. They're a 14-year replacement. We're buying one every seven years. Then, we also have our wheel loader, which is on a seven-year rotation. Everything's laid out. We have five small vehicles and I buy a new one every two years."

Discussing Drainage

"When I first started as the highway superintendent, I established an off-road drainage committee, which is made up of volunteers," Ron said. "I'm still the chairman of this committee. We focus on drainage projects outside of the road right-of-way but still related to improving drainage for the road infrastructure. Our work is typically connected to municipal buildings or residential areas. We have specific criteria for determining how we fund projects — whether they are eligible for funding, or if they fall under private property issues.

"One of the projects we've been working on involves a subdivision near the schools, which has drainage problems," he added. "There is a pipe that runs under our road, Schoolview, and goes through the school's property — about 800 feet of 24-30-inch pipe installed in 1969 or 1970. Unfortunately, that pipe has rotted out. The drainage continues through some wetlands and farmers' fields. We were looking for ways to upgrade the piping under the school property, which would allow us to also upgrade the pipe under our road. The current piping was in bad shape, and we wanted to adjust the elevation to improve drainage and prevent flooding, but we couldn't increase the flow downstream to the farmers who were already dealing with drainage issues."

Ron said that for years, he explored ways to fund and execute this project and was eventually able to secure a grant through Erie County Soil and Water, specifically an agricultural grant.

"It was a significant achievement, as the Soil and Water Magazine even published an article about it," he said. "This was the first grant that involved cooperation between the farmers, the school, the town and Erie County. Through the project, we were able to restore the wetlands in the woods to slow down the water for the farmers, upgrade the drainage system through the school to improve their drainage, and ultimately upgrade the drainage under the road as well. This project also benefited the subdivision upstream.

"It was a long process, but we finally completed it last year, and it was a great success."

Questions, Answers

Is the job everything you expected?

"Yes, and more." Ron said. "It's been gratifying to work for the town I grew up in and give back to my community."

How did you get to be highway superintendent?

"I was elected in 1995. I ran for office every two years until it changed to a four-year term in 2002. I have completed eight terms."

Describe your job in one word.

"Busy. Every single day I personally make many decisions. It's mind boggling. On the other hand, it's also rewarding."

What disappointed you the most?

"Honestly, I don't really have many disappointments in life. Luckily to say, I look at the bright side of life pretty much. I could probably dream up all kinds of issues to complain about, but I can't think of any because I don't think that way."

What has most surprised you?

"The first thing that came to mind was having to be a boss, not just a co-worker. I have a great crew. I get compliments all the time from the guys and other towns and individuals on what a good crew we have and the good camaraderie we have here because everybody gets along. I'll work right alongside them, whether that's plowing snow, maintaining roads, chipping brush or whatever; I do as much as I can when I'm not in the office. I feel that we have a good environment. Sometimes, I have to put my foot down and be a boss but that's OK.

"I also was surprised by how slow things can be like approvals and the process, which can be cumbersome getting things done in government. That was very frustrating for the first few years, But I'm thankful that I'm highway superintendent and I have my own budget, and I really have a lot of latitude to make stuff happen. Otherwise, I'd really go crazy because even that's slow enough in my mind, but I've gotten used to it over the years."

Most frustrating?

"COVID."

Least favorite?

"Checking roads in the wintertime for plowing every day many times a day."

The best part?

"Being out on the job, out in the weather, participating and getting something done."

If you could change anything, what would it be?

"Educate the public on exactly what we do on a day-to-day basis here at the highway department."

The most important?

"Keeping a good relationship with my crew."

Best day?

In 2007 I was nominated and received the Citizen of the Year Award from our Eden Chamber of Commerce.

Major projects?

"Eden Evans Townline Road, our last dirt road in town, we prepared and paved 1.2 miles in 2024."

Like most highway superintendents, when it's all said and done, Ron wants to be remembered for "doing a good job, helping people and keeping the town roads safe."

What more can you ask for?

About the Town of Eden

The population was 7,688 at the 2010 census. The basis for choosing the town's name is unknown. Eden is one of the interior "Southtowns" of Erie County, lying in the south-central part of the county and to the south of Buffalo.

The first settler, Samuel Tubbs, arrived in 1808 along with John Welch, Dr. John March, Levi Bunting and Daniel Webster. The Town of Eden was established in 1812 by the partition of the (now defunct) Town of Willink. Later, Eden gave up territory to form the towns of Evans and Boston. The town was called "Hill's Corners" until 1822.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the town of Eden has a total area of 39.86 sq. mi. of which 39.79 sq. mi. is land and 0.07 sq. mi. or 0.17 percent, is water.

The Eden Corn Festival is a small annual festival held in Eden. Festivities usually include a craft show, an auto show, a small assortment of rides, a small parade and local foods (most of which include some form of corn). There also are baseball and softball tournaments and a tractor pull.

During summer months, usually around the Eden Corn Festival, a summer concert series is held in front of the Eden Elementary School. There, local musicians play music for the residents.

A factory in Eden, the Original American Kazoo Company, was established in 1916 and currently remains the only metal Kazoo factory in North America. Located along Route 62, the factory contains a gift shop, as well as a museum that shows its history, and step-by-step Kazoo assembly.

(Town history courtesy of www.edenhistory.com.) P

(All photos courtesy of the town of Eden highway department.)