PITTSFIELD, Mass. — When the snowstorms hit, Commissioner of Public Services David Turocy has a plan in place to keep the roads safe.

 

"Public safety is really what is going to drive our decisions," Turocy said. "At the end of the day, public safety is No. 1 for us."

 

Last year, the City Council had expressed concerns after many roads were left in icy conditions following snowstorms. Those heading the efforts at the time said there was a shortage of salt and extraordinary weather with back-to-back snowstorms and frigid temperatures. 

 

Those guys are now gone. The city had opted to go back to having both a commissioner of public services and commissioner of public utilities. Previously Bruce Collingwood headed both departments but now leads utilities while Turocy, hired last August, took over public services. Former Highway Superintendent Kevin Swail took a job in Lanesborough and Daniel Ostrander was hired as his replacement. 

 

While the city has been spared from snow for the most part this winter, Ostrander and Turocy presented plans to more effectively handle the 208 miles of roads, six miles of sidewalks, 20 buildings, five parking lots, two garages and access to two lakes.

 

"The task itself is tall. For a city of our size, there are a lot of roads," Turocy said.

 

The department has 32 employees ranging from park maintenance to garage mechanics and everyone has a role during a snow storm, the commissioner said. The city owns seven large dump trucks and three sidewalk plows. Those are used to sand and plow the main roads while the city contracts with some 40 independent plows to handle the neighborhood.

 

Turocy says the supervisors determine the severity of the storm and then craft an appropriate plan. The amount of sand or salt and even the type of sand or salt is determined by the temperatures before, during, and after the storm. For example, with a storm earlier this winter, Turocy said the temperatures were expected to be frigid so anything left on the roads would freeze and be difficult to remove. The department developed a plan to use salt to loosen up the snow and ice and then focused on getting it all off the road.

 

With the contractors, Tucocy says they are all assigned routes and given maps. Supervisors traverse the city during the storm to inspect and check on all of the plow jobs, he said. 

 

However, it is the contractor's work that the city councilors say they've heard complaints about. Ward 7 Councilor Anthony Simonelli says some roads are completely missed each year. He said he ends up calling the Department of Public Works to get the same roads plowed every year. He urged the commissioner to have the contractors drive the routes before the snow hits to learn the roads.

 

"It seems like a lot of the side streets, the residential roads, were not being plowed until the end of the road or from curb to curb," Simonelli said. "I have no complaints with the work that the Highway Department does or the response that I've received. My concerns have always been with the contractors." 

 

Simonelli also questioned the enforcement of both the overnight winter parking ban and the snow emergency ban. He said he fields calls regarding cars that are parked in the street throughout the winter and even during the snow emergencies. 

 

Police Chief Michael Wynn said the department has four or five patrol officers on overnight, who do the ticketing for the overnight parking ban. The department gives out warning notices in the fall and then when the ban is in effect, the overnight patrol will ticket. The hope is to get as many cars off the road as possible — though Wynn says sometimes the tickets don't do it. The police will ticket at any point during the ban despite two councilors suggesting on Tuesday that the police do not ticket when it doesn't snow.

 

When a snow emergency is called, Turocy says a detail officer is called in to authorize towing. Supervisors find vehicles parked during the emergency and call those in to be towed. However, there is a shortage of available tow trucks and space to impound the hundreds of cars on the road during an emergency so those towing jobs need to be prioritized. 

 

"We try to remove the cars the experts have identified as the highest public safety risk," Wynn said.

 

Ward 2 Councilor Kevin Morandi said "when a vehicle impedes plowing operations on a narrow street, it makes it difficult for everybody" as he called for taking addition steps during the snow storms.

 

Councilor at Large Peter White questioned the provision during the snow emergency that allows cars to park on North Street. He asked for a similar provision be put in place for other commercial areas such as Elm and Tyler Streets.  

 

Councilor at Large Kathleen Amuso said last year the city seemed to plow too little. This year, she is seeing plows plowing roads with no snow on them. 

 

"There was nothing to be plowed and they still had their plows down on the street. That's a problem," Amuso said. 

 

Amuso also voiced concern over plow drivers piling snow on sidewalks to the point when even a snowblower can't open up space to walk. 

 

The council accepted the report after providing their suggestions during an hourlong discussion on the procedures.