Police are investigating the theft of a large tree grinding machine, which was taken from the town Department of Public Works yard sometime this weekend.
The machine — called a “tub grinder”— is about 40 feet long, and valued at about $100,000, according to Director of Public Works, Dennis Rozum.
When public works crews arrived at the yard on Derby Avenue early Sunday, they discovered the large piece of equipment was missing from its spot parked behind a storage barn.
Rozum said the machine was not visible from the road, and is not typically stored at the yard. The grinder is normally at the transfer station, but was parked at the yard for repairs, Rozum said.
“It had to be somebody who knows we had it here, because it was not visible from the street,” Rozum said.
The big piece of equipment grinds up trees and shrubs, and is useful to companies that perform landscaping work. Police are hoping for tips and leads in the case so they can recover the machine, said Lt. Paul Satkowski, spokesman for the department.
“We’re hoping we can get it back,” Satkowski said. Police detectives were at the scene Tuesday morning.
That was the case a couple of months ago when two trailers stolen from the Department of Public Works were recovered in the Waterbury area.
The grinder was easily accessed because the DPW yard is not fenced or gated. The machine is on wheels, and Rozum said he believes someone drove into the yard with a heavy-duty pickup truck or similar vehicle and towed the grinder away.
Rozum received special funding of $9,000 from the Board of Selectmen Tuesday night for a surveillance system, with rooftop cameras, that would send video signals from the yard directly to the police department. He also wants the town to consider a gate at the site.
The loss of the grinder comes at a key time. Spring is in the air, and people will soon be cleaning their yards and hauling brush to the transfer station, where the grinder would chop the wooden pieces to chips, Rozum said. Christmas trees are also disposed of the same way.
‘It’s an important piece of equipment,” Rozum said.
