Government

More Details on Blizzard Plowing/Future Storm Plans

Mayor Jeannette McCarthy plans to revamp the plowing system.

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FILE PHOTO: City officials recently reviewed the city's performance in clearing snow during the February blizzard.

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FILE PHOTO: City officials recently reviewed the city's performance in clearing snow during the February blizzard.

Credit Ryan Grannan-Doll

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In the wake of the recent February blizzard, city officials on Monday, March 4, quibbled on how to improve the city’s snow-clearing system as new information emerged on the city’s performance during the storm.

Mayor Jeannette McCarthy and Consolidated Public Works Director Michael Chiasson fielded City Councillors’ questions on the controversy for a little more than four hours during a meeting at City Hall.

The meeting came weeks after residents and councilors complained about what they believed was the city’s poor performance in clearing sidewalks and roads after 25 inches of snow descended on the city.

Under the system used during the blizzard, city employees were responsible for clearing snow from the schools and city-owned land, while private contractors cleared city streets.

HIGHLIGHTS ON NEW PLOWING SYSTEM

McCarthy plans to implement a new system by May in which the city would be divided into four quadrants with one contractor being responsible for each. The contractor would be allowed to subcontract the work, but would ultimately be responsible for the quadrant.
Each contractor would be required to have a minimum of 1 dump truck, 1 loader and 1 pickup truck, McCarthy said.
Under the new system, the contractors would be also be responsible for the sidewalks.
McCarthy has previously said the new system would pay contractors on a per-inch basis, but she never mentioned that during the Monday meeting.
McCarthy said she did not implement a new system after a 2010 storm because Chiasson was new to his job.

COMMENTS/NEW INFO ON RECENT BLIZZARD

McCarthy said she is reviewing bills for the blizzard and may decide not to pay some of the contractors. That, she said, could lead to litigation.
According to Chiasson, the city had enough workers to use its trucks, but not enough to use the sidewalk plows.
On sidewalks, McCarthy said nine workers were responsible for clearing sidewalks, but that some were on scheduled vacations and others didn’t come in, didn’t want to work the storm.” McCarthy added she does not have the power to force them to work.
Chiasson said many workers don’t like driving the sidewalk plows because they believe it is “tedious” and is physically taxing.
Also, McCarthy said some of the “chasers,” supervisors that check the work of plows, did not come to work during the storm.
City Councillor Paul Brasco criticized Chiasson on the chaser issue saying they “failed miserably” at their jobs. “There is the feeling that some of the chasers are friendly with the contractors who don’t feel the obligation to hold them to a standard that’s up there…There is no way, if the chasers had done their job, that you would have called the plows off the road [at 2 p.m. on Saturday].”
Chiasson said some of the crews went home at 2 p.m. on Saturday while others stayed until 11 p.m. Chiasson said he should have called them back to work later.
Chiasson acknowledged the city could have done a better job in pretreating roads with salt. McCarthy said she ordered the city’s main streets salted.
The CPW director also said he should have ordered salting after the snow had stopped.
The city uses approximately 150 pieces of snow-clearing equipment, according to Chiasson. He said 129 of them are owned by contractors with the remaining owned by the city.
“He indicated to me he is not comfortable,” with the number of equipment pieces, said McCarthy
The current agreement under which contractors plow requires companies have signs on their trucks indicating they are plowing for Waltham, according to Chiasson. However, many trucks don’t have them. City Councillor Robert Logan suggested the city require two signs on each truck as a way to better hold contractors accountable.
The city tracks plow trucks using GPS systems in each truck, according to Chiasson.
Four $50 tickets were issued during the storm for pushing snow onto city property, according to Chiasson.
Waltham Public Schools custodians assisted in clearing snow from sidewalks, McCarthy said.
When asked if the city had a backup plan for future storms that may be worse than the recent blizzard, Chiasson said, “no.”

SUGGESTIONS

Logan suggested the city have a smartphone app in which citizens could track where the plows are working and provide greater accountability to concerned citizens.
Chiasson said the city could use social media during the storm, but would not have much useful information to post. However, the city could post the list of streets to be plowed after the storm.
Chiasson, in response to an inquiry from Logan, said the city could explore purchasing “wackers” that blow snow from sidewalks.
Chiasson said there are plans to buy additional equipment, through the city’s capital improvement plan. However, the plan has not yet been funded, according to City Councillor Tom Stanley.
“It is an area we need to plan on making more investment in the future,” said Logan on the CPW’s resources for clearing snow.
McCarthy said she did not disagree with Logan but said she would need to find tasks for any new workers to do perform when they are not clearing snow.

COUNCILLORS’ CONCERNS

“We don’t have enough personnel,” Stanley said, saying the city needs more CPW workers and private contractors. “We should have been prepared for this [storm].”
Brasco suggested the city distribute notices to businesses reminding them to keep their sidewalks clear the day before the storm instead of the day after.
Doucette expressed concerns over communications between city officials during the storm. In response, McCarthy criticized Doucette for calling in requests for certain streets to be plowed. She said doing so undercuts the CPW list formulated by city officials that is focused on maximizing public safety.
“I can’t have them taking multiple directions. Yes, it is political [for councilors] to call in plowing requests,” McCarthy said.
In response, Doucette said that was not “political” and residents were looking for adequate storm cleanup.
Brasco criticized McCarthy for the “inefficiency” he saw in the cost to clear the roads. “It’s embarrassing... when you say that the city of Newton, it cost them $1.5 million for that storm, they have 308.1 road miles… and we spent $1.2 million. It’s embarrassing. That’s inefficiency. That’s ineffective. Somebody has to be held accountable,” Brasco said adding Waltham had has 163.1 road miles.
Chiasson guessed the storm had cost around $500,000, but that he did not yet have a final figure.

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warrendalejimmie

11:25 am on Thursday, March 7, 2013

WOW. where do we even begin with some of these statements. The fact that the Mayor/Pub Works Dept didn't have a plan in place for who would work, who was required, cycling people in and out is UNBELIEVABLE. The Mayor couldn't force people to come to work that DIDN'T WANT TO WORK THE STORM? OK, you're fired. There are plenty of people who would love the job.
Workers find the sidewalk plows "tedious" and physically taxing. OK - again - there are people who will do the job. Tedious & work go hand in hand - no matter how much you like your job - parts of it stink. GET OVER it. I'm sure the school kids trying to walk through piles of snow think it is tedious too.
I digress. There is too much to digest here and too much disbelief.

Matt Carter

11:25 am on Thursday, March 7, 2013

So basicly to put it all together the Mayor will still not fund anything at the DPW, our equipment will continue to fall apart, the dept will continue to be under staffed and we will be back here again next winter or heck maybe even by Saturday as our equipment is inadequate for the heavy wet snow expected. Thanks Mayor. What a Joke!

HawkHomer

1:17 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013

That Mike Chiasson is some piece of work!

Renee M. Boudreau

1:41 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013

I know in one of the small cities I resided in for several years before; the city would have public works personnel out working on clearing the roads and sidewalks; often when they did not have enough man power to cover all areas; it was open for the random citizen who wanted to earn an extra 20 dollars for 20 minutes etc to come up and talk with the worker who then passed them a shovel and after the 20 minutes was up they would be paid cash; not sure how exactly they worked it all; I know I did it once and I helped clear a sidewalk and earned some extra pocket cash. Perhaps the city could work on something similar since there seems to be a lack of people to help?

Frosty the Snowman

11:22 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013

Seems like a great idea, but the liability on the city alone would make it impossible.

Fred Muckle

1:44 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013

The mayor is a piece of work. If you watched the council meeting, they would ask Mr Chaison a question and the mayor would run right up and answer it. The meeting was pitiful and will get us now where. The mayor fails to fund all department budgets and this is what you will get.

Noto Traffic

4:34 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013

I think she "would run right up and answer it" because I think she knows he knows nothing. I couldn't believe that he couldn't answer the questions that were asked of him! He is a Dept. Head! Who is he related to to get this job? He looked shell shocked! Who is this kid? This would never wash in the private sector - out.

David C

12:55 am on Saturday, March 9, 2013

He had the answers to all the questions.If you noticed, she wouldnt allow him to speak.She didnt want the council to hear over and over that he has no money to buy or fix anything.Even without having to hire anyone.He cant get an approval to fix any of the equipment we already have. Theres a snowblower and a bobcat sitting in the garage for the better part of 2 months now waiting for an approval for the parts. In the "private sector", if you need something, you go buy it. In the City of Waltham, if you need something, you put it on the mayors desk and wait for an answer. And wait. And wait. And wait. She hired a guy to clean moody st with staggered hours because she was tired of getting the phone calls about how dirty it is. Do we praise her for that? Yes, because she hired someone. No, because she could have fixed The 80k+ Green Machine sitting in the garage for 3 years now, because it was in a car accident, for a one time payment of 25 - 30k that did the job in 2 hours every morning that it takes the guy 8 hours to do every day. It did a beautiful job and there were no complaints at all for the year that it was running.

Michel Provencher

3:43 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013

It was apparent to me that we need to do things differently here in Waltham regarding snow removal. When I left Waltham and crossed over into Newton the day after the Blizzard the road conditions were like night and day. Guess which town was town was Night? Why do we need to reinvent the wheel? What is Newton doing that seems to work so well?

Ken Doucette

9:42 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013

As a City Councillor, I worked with many dozens of residents via the phone, twitter, email and Facebook during the storm. I am very surprised the Mayor insinuates that I and other Councillors tried to interfere with Public Safety. I simply called in the streets or issues that residents had shared with me. That is my job as an elected official. I followed the same instructions as any other Waltham resident. I then leave it to the professionals to do their job as they see fit.

In fact, I even called the Mayor's office Thursday morning because of a Bus Stop for an Elementary School that had not been cleared after I was told it would be. This was a safety issue and it had NOT been addressed. I also shared other streets and sidewalks that had still not been cleared that had been communicated to me. At that time the Mayor's Office never indicated to me that I was interfering with the list the city had made.

I am and will continue to be a big advocate for public safety especially for our students. I did my part communicating constituent concerns to the Public Works Department and the Mayor. They are in charge of the day to day operations. It is unfortunate that the Mayor tries to make this false accusation.

khluvr621

10:20 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013

Even though I reside on the Newton side of the border, I do my grocery shopping (and other leisure activities) by foot in Waltham. I have personally communicated with Mr. Doucette concerning street/sidewalk cleanup after the blizzard via Twitter and I have to applaud him, Waltham Police, Mr. Logan, and other people whom have reached out to residents greatly over the CPW and the city OVER SOCIAL MEDIA (which I greatly disagree with Chiasson's response about because even a small "be safe out there" really goes a long way). The excuses concerning "tedious work" and "not wanting to come in to help" aren't buying anyone. I didn't need to scout Newton nor any other city for comparisons for conditions. I just had to walk down the block in slush one day in Newton after the blizzard, but then deal with a snowed/iced non-treated bridge for 3 weeks in Waltham - during the day and night. The city had no part in any cleanup.. the warm weather and rain did all the work. It's a shame that residents had to play the "Where Is The Plow?" game for this long and sincerely hope this blizzard be the utmost reality check for the city and mayor concerning future natural disasters - not just winter related issues.