PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Cars on the road, sidewalks being plowed in, and speeding are all continual concerns for the City Council when it comes to the city's management of snow storms.
The council on Tuesday called on Commissioner of Public Services David Turocy to discuss the snow plowing procedures. Turocy outlined the process and answered questions regarding issues relating to the efforts to clean up the roads during a storm.
"We have 20 contractors, 40 vehicles, so several of them have a couple vehicles and some are just one pickup on their own," Turocy said. "We don't call all of them for every storm depending on the conditions and how much we did in-house."
The city has eight vehicles it uses during a storm that are focused mainly on the main roads. The contractors, who are paid hourly, are responsible for the side roads. Three supervisors are deployed from the city to drive around and inspect the work of the contractors, cleaning up spots and making notes to pass along to the driver for improvement.
How the city attacks a storm depends on the snow conditions. Turocy says if the city knows it will definitely get snow or know the weather will continue to be cold following a storm, it will take a more aggressive approach. On those days the city will salt the roads, when the storm comes plow, and then perform another round of salting and cleanup of remaining snow.
"Even when we are done plowing there is going to be a little bit of snow out on the road," Turocy said.
Turocy's general rule is that the first inch will melt on its own. The second inch can be melted with salt. And the third inch in when plowing operations are needed.
"If it just calling for light snow, we are going to wait to see if the roads are slippery," he said.
The response in managing plowing on 40 square miles of city streets is fairly typical. But what concerns some councilors is the amount of training that contracted plowers receive from the city — minimal.
"The contractors, we don't give them any specific training. It is tough to get these guys together in a room," Turocy said.
The commissioner says the city does hold one-on-one meetings with the contractors to lay out the expectations and process. Following a storm, department leaders will discuss various issues and pass along notes to the drivers. And for the most part, the majority of the contractors have been with the city for a number of years. There is about a 10 percent turnover each year.
That effort hasn't been enough to alleviate all of the complaints the councilors hear from constituents. Councilor at Large Kathleen Amuso says she lives on a corner lot and often the drivers just drive straight and pile the snow on the sidewalk.
"I can't sometimes get my snowblower through it," Amuso said.
Turocy said that is "probably one the biggest challenges." He says the department is in constant communication with the contractors telling them to bring the snow with them around corners. But, that isn't an easy task especially for the smaller vehicles. It takes multiple passes to ensure all the snow is carried around the corner at times, which during the day when there is traffic is not easy.
"We catch them and tell them they can't do that," Turocy said. "They should be able to work those corners and take it around properly... But it is not easy to just swing it around."
Another issue Amuso has heard is a driver with the plow down when there is little snow, and sparks coming from the friction between the plow and the pavement. Turocy says that is typically a case of the department receiving complaints after the storm and then a truck is sent out to check it out. Then it is up to the contractor's discretion.
And frankly, the drivers have already completed their work and have other jobs and obligations to get to so they are trying to make sure the job is complete so they don't have to come back a second time.
"They don't necessarily want to be out there adding to their time," Turocy said.
Ward 2 Councilor Kevin Morandi says he has a constituent whose road has not been touched at any point this winter. He questioned who is making sure the drivers know the routes. Ward 5 Councilor Donna Todd Rivers says she has some streets as well.
"There have been streets in my ward that have been missed, there are sidewalks plowed onto," Rivers said.
Morandi said in the cul-de-sac at the end of one road, the contractor piled all of the snow onto the sidewalk in front of the home of a sick, elderly person.
"To me, this is unacceptable. This is a private contractor who has been plowing the street for four or five years and decided to come across," Morandi said.
Speed is another complaint. Morandi says he has witnessed plow trucks going too fast for the road. Turocy says he tells the contractors to watch their speed at all times, especially in the type of weather that the department often hears speeding complaints. Overall, he says the contractors are told to keep their speed below 15 miles per house.
The issue of cars parked on the road during snowstorms is an issue as well. Morandi asked how often police are advised of cars to tow.
Turocy says vehicles are towed during a snow emergency, which he hasn't called this year. He could have but one storm was right around the holidays and he didn't feel it was appropriate to be aggressive with towing then. There is also an overnight ban, but that is typically a ticket and not a tow.
"Ideally we will have a police officer in there to help us with towing but they can only do so much," Turocy said of the times a snow emergency is called.
Turocy says he doesn't want cars parked on the road either. Not only does it make the job harder but when that car leaves, it makes it look like the drivers did a bad job and the snow left there gets packed and harder to plow. He says he fields quite a number of complaints from the contractors about that too.
There are only so much for resources and time to remove cars. Turocy says during a snow emergency there is "targeted enforcement" on areas of the city which traditionally cars on the road cause more difficulty with plowing.
"Nothing is being done with cars on the street and it is just creating a mess," said Councilor at Large Peter White. "We need to get these cars off the street."
Despite the concerns raised from the councilors, Amuso credited the department during the last storm for doing a better job than the first. But, she would still like to keep on the department to make sure the contractors know city's expectations.
"We do have to keep our city safe. We spend a lot of money on it. People are out there plowing and they have to know what our expectations are," Amuso said.
