Pittsfield Mulling Snow Removal Well Before First Storm
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Don't let the balmy weather fool you: Winter is closer than you think.
On Monday, with temperatures nearing 80, the Public Works and Utilities subcommittee heard about the city's snow removal plans for the 2025-2026 season.
"Our first thing, why we do this, is to maintain public safety. Then that's followed by equity and efficiency, and then we fall into cost control," Commissioner of Public Services and Utilities Ricardo Morales explained.
"All of these things are important to us, but they're not made equal. I hope that everyone understands this. We have to be fiscally responsible, but we also have to provide safe roads and spaces for people to move around, goods to move around, and emergency vehicles to move around."
The Department of Public Works is responsible for keeping roads, sidewalks, and critical public spaces safe, passable, and accessible during winter storms. Pittsfield is divided into 30-32 neighborhood quadrants, which are cleared by contractors, and the highway crew covers the main roads in 12-hour shifts.
Around 450 lane miles in the city require snow removal.
Last winter, the city saw 4.77 feet of snow through 35 storm events, said to be "the low side of snow accumulation."
"Thirteen of those events were dedicated to ice formation and not much snow plowing, which makes it very difficult for us to keep our streets safe even when it's not actually snowing, right? There's water and freezing conditions leading to ice events," Morales explained.
Contractors worked for more than 2,600 hours, and there were more than 5,400 overtime hours paid out.
In fiscal year 2025, the $700,000 snow maintenance budget has been exceeded by nearly $1 million, totaling $1.6 million spent to date. Similarly, the winter overtime budget of $200,000 was exceeded by more than $200,000.
Combined, about $2 million was spent on snow and ice in FY25, a variance of nearly $1.2 million from the budgeted amount.
Materials included:
- 2,430 tons of sand
- 7,030 tons of rock salt
- 3,220 tons of treated salt
- 1,750 gallons of liquid mag-chloride
Every lane mile costs $20.71 is for indirect costs such as fuel and equipment, and $60.24 for direct costs, such as contractors, overtime, and material used during these events.
"We are having more difficulty obtaining contractors. That number has been going down. I remember four or five years ago, we had 54 signed up one season," Morales reported.
"Last year, we couldn't even get more than 22."
While speaking about challenges of the last season, he reported staffing shortages and contractor issues related to pay rates and insurance that made work "a little less coordinated." Hiring more contractors, he added, is one of the city's primary concerns for preparedness.
Pittsfield has 14 highway department employees to work the 12-hour removal shifts, and utilizes employees from other divisions to cover shifts. So far, one contractor with six vehicles has turned in documents for work.
Still, the city is struggling to find contractors and has made some changes in response.
"We are working with contractors to set the rates at the right price, obviously, not what they're what they would like, but something that is both market equitable and something that we can afford," Morales reported.
"And also, we worked together, in coordination with our insurance, to carry forward a requirement that both meets our insurance requirement for their insurance requirements and something that they are able to provide."
Tags: snow & ice, snowstorm,
