Tatro

WILTON – Mike Tatro said he likes a challenge. He got one.

He said, the second Monday he was the town’s new Road Agent, “A beaver dam broke and washed out a piece of Mason Road. Welcome to Wilton!”

The dam “let go again,” he said, “and we were lucky it didn’t wash out again.” But you can’t argue with beavers or sue them for damages.

The washout was a something he had handled before. Prior to accepting the job in Wilton a few weeks ago, he spent 11 years with the Highway Department in Antrim, which, he noted, “has more dirt roads than Wilton.” Dirt roads are hard to maintain.

Before joining Antrim’s highway department, he worked in construction. “Dirt work, roads, driveways, that sort of thing.”

He learned the job by doing it,” he said, “the best way.”

Before that, he was a longhaul truck driver. “I went all over,” he said, including Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay, a place he called “a nice place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there in the winter.”

Tatro is already involved in town events. He took part in the recent roadside clean-up effort and is working with the committee looking into building a new highway garage.

A new building would be “a big improvement,” and a warmer, more comfortable working place might make it easier to hire help. Finding part time snowplow drivers is a problem for all small towns, he said. “We are a dying breed,” noting that people don’t want to do that kind of work.

“We need a heated bay,” he said. Now the trucks “stay frozen all winter and that’s not good for them.” He added, “It’s over due. Wilton has outgrown this space.” They have looked at all the town-owned property and not found anything suitable. The current space cannot be enlarged because of wet lands.

When not working on roads, Tatro said he likes hiking, fishing and kayaking, and is looking forward to walking the Heald Tract, the Frog Pond and Sheldrick Forest.

“It was a challenge coming here,” he said. “I’m learning the town and I’m ready for it. We’ll get the work done between the rains. I think I’m all set.”