Despite one of the heaviest snowstorms in the county’s recorded history last week, police and village officials reported surprisingly few problems — with the one exception being some West Salem residents throwing their snow in the street to be dealt with by cleanup crews.

“We were pleasantly surprised that we weren’t affected as much as we have been in the past with big storms,” said West Salem Police Chief Charles Ashbeck. “It was quite obvious that there was less traffic on the roads. It was nice to see that people were heeding all the warnings. We only had two accidents, but officers did help in pushing quite a few stuck cars.”

According to Bangor street crew staffer Doug Allen, the snow removal team only had minor equipment problems (mostly with snow blowers). The team started work at 3 a.m. on Wednesday. “There was already eight inches of snow by then,” he said.

The three-man crew — two trucks with plows and another with a loader and pusher — worked straight through until Wednesday afternoon, then got some sleep and were back cleaning up again at 4 a.m. on Thursday.

“I thought that it went really well,” Bangor Public Works Director Steve Baker said of the village’s snow removal efforts. “Especially when you consider it was 16 or 17 inches and the first snowfall of the year — those guys did a good job.”

Bangor Police Chief Scott Alo echoed Baker. “Our guys did a great job with the roads — we heard quite a few compliments from people. And the state guys did a nice job with the interstate and other highways. All in all, there weren’t many problems.”

Alo said his department handled a few slide-offs, but there were far fewer accidents than one might expect considering the amount of snow and the poor traction.

West Salem Village Administrator Teresa Schnitzler said the poor traction on village streets was compounded by people being overzealous in clearing sidewalks and driveways.

“We had a layer of ice underneath and then some people were plowing, shoveling or snow blowing back into the street, and that led to problems that we’re going to have to address,” Schnitzler said. “One of our trucks even got stuck in the snow from someone’s driveway.

“I realize people are frustrated, but you can’t be putting snow in the street — it’s like leaves or grass,” she continued. “It’s a public safety issue and it’s hard on our equipment, hard on the guys and it slows everything down. If it happens again, we are going to have to start writing tickets.”