LEWISTON — Councilors said Tuesday that they’re eager to see how well smaller teams of crews dedicated to clearing snow downtown work out this winter.

Public Works Director David Jones told city councilors the new team of seven Public Works employees will move to overnight schedules beginning mid-December, making them ready to respond to storms downtown right away.

The teams, with loaders and dump trucks, will clear the snow soon after it falls instead of carting it away days later.

“They’ll do snow removal overnight, when we don’t have as much traffic,” Jones said. “They’ll be there every night and just chip away at it as they can, all winter.”

The new structure was one recommendation by the city’s Public Works Committee last fall, and that group got updated recommendations Tuesday night from city councilors.

Councilors created the seven-member Public Works Committee, made up of two city councilors, two former councilors and three residents to help make the Public Works Department more efficient.

Last fall, the committee recommended converting the city’s street lights to more energy efficient LEDs, starting a paid trash system and improving downtown snow removal efforts.

Councilors voted down the paid trash collection system in March and Jones said councilors have not weighed in on the street light conversion program yet.

But the snow removal efforts caught the council’s attention.

The city’s plan has been to have large teams of 20 to 25 descend on the downtown days after a storm, carting away snow in one night.

“Before, we’ve been able to do all of Lisbon Street, from Adams to Main, in one night,” Jones said. “We won’t be able to do that with just seven people.”

Jones said he’d report to councilors later this winter about how the new plan is working.

Also Tuesday, councilors said they are eager for a bigger landfill pass program at the Lewiston landfill. It would let homeowners discard as much as 1,000 pounds of bulky waste each year for free.

“I thought we gave a green light on that and it was going to be made to happen,” Councilor Mike Lachance said. “But that isn’t the case, apparently.”

Jones said the plan will come back to councilors for a final review.

“We think we are going to need some public meetings and meetings with landlords as well to get some input on that,” Jones said. “We have not done that yet.”

Jones said he expects the expanded landfill pass program will begin later this winter.

staylor@sunjournal.com