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Holyoke DPW details strain from January storm, cites driver shortages and aging equipment
Summary
The DPW told the Public Safety Committee the January storm stretched its capacity: the city deployed 12 trucks (9 large, 3 small), faced a shortage of CDL drivers (only four available overnight), used a surplus military snowblower that malfunctioned, and lacks enough large-contractor capacity partly because insurance costs have reduced contractor participation.
Mike Ellinger, the head of Holyoke's Department of Public Works, told the Public Safety Committee on May 11 that a combination of heavy snowfall, an aging fleet and staffing shortages limited the city's ability to clear all streets rapidly during the January storm.
"We had a total of 12 trucks out on the road, 9 of them large trucks and 3 of them smaller trucks," Ellinger said while describing the department's initial response. He said the department had four qualified CDL drivers available during the overnight shift, and multiple large trucks were parked because operators were unavailable.
Ellinger outlined preparations taken before the storm (brine pretreatment and moving first-response crews into position) and described logistics that limited how quickly snow could be hauled away. He said private contractors are scarcer than in the past and that many contractors no longer keep large plow trucks on the road because of higher insurance costs. "A lot of the contractors have gotten out of the business of doing snow plowing exactly because of that," Councilor Sullivan said during the discussion, arguing the city should re-examine bidding and budgeting to ensure contractor availability.
The department also deployed a surplus military snowblower to move heavy piles; Ellinger said the machine suffered chute and motor problems during prolonged use and that it was not a complete substitute for having adequate hauling trucks. He said the department is assembling a capital needs list to gradually replace older vehicles and that the current mayor has helped secure some newer trucks.
Councilors and commissioners raised specific problems that emerged in the storm: narrow one-way streets and parked cars blocked plows and, in at least one instance cited by Councilor Purcell, an ambulance became temporarily stuck before neighbors shoveled space for it to pass. Members discussed enforcement tools and communication systems, including Everbridge alerts and SeeClickFix reports, but Ellinger cautioned that the city's parking-ban ordinance vests authority with the DPW director and that exemptions or complex spot-by-spot rules carry trade-offs.
Committee members expressed support for prioritizing capital funding and for advertising to attract larger contractor fleets; DPW said it will continue recruiting drivers and contractors and working with the council on budget requests. The committee recorded the item as complied with and signaled further review during the budget process.
