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Council questions DPW snow response and management as deputies and staffing gaps surface
Summary
At a Ways & Means budget hearing, DPW Director Patricia Fe outlined lessons from a historic winter and proposed a 'snow playbook' with vendor tiers, GPS and camera tracking, and new equipment — while councilors pressed about a vacant deputy director post, staffing shortages and personnel transparency.
Patricia Fe, director of the Department of Public Works, told the City Council’s Special Committee on Ways and Means that the department is translating lessons from a historic winter into operational changes intended to speed future storm responses and improve communication with residents. Fe said the city is adding new snow plows, developing a tiered “snow playbook” for when to call in outside contractors with heavy equipment, and exploring GPS and forward-facing cameras to give residents real-time updates about plow locations.
The director said three new plows have arrived so far and six more are expected. She said the city has begun to reorganize inspector coverage used during the blizzard—shifting from 15 ward-based inspectors to quadrant “super inspectors”—and is working with vendors, the fleet manager and public-property staff to pilot GPS and portable tracking for contractor vehicles. “We’re developing a snow playbook, if you will, for next winter,” Fe said, adding that better communication to neighborhoods during storms is a priority.
Council members pressed Fe about staffing and management. Several members, led by Councilwoman Shelley Peterson and Vice Chair James Taylor, asked whether the department’s lack of a deputy director (the post has been vacant for months) is a factor slowing response times and diverting resources from frontline crews. Peterson said councilors were concerned that a highly paid managerial post might be unfilled while laborers who perform pavement repairs and pothole work are needed in the field.
Fe defended the need for deputy-level management in a department that oversees seven divisions — from highways and sewer to environmental services — saying division chiefs have had to carry extra duties in the interim. “I don’t want a deputy to do my job; I want a partner who can stand in at a moment’s notice and help run the department,” she said. The director acknowledged that some councilors favor redirecting payroll funds to hire more laborers but said managerial capacity is also required to coordinate large, technical programs such as storm response, bridge work and the hurricane barrier maintenance.
Councilors also raised transparency concerns about extended employee leaves and the city’s charter processes for personnel actions. The city solicitor explained that executive sessions for personnel matters require 48-hour notices and, for personnel issues, notice to the affected employee. Several council members urged the administration to use executive session procedures so council can review specific personnel or long-running leave questions.
On logistics, DPW staff described efforts to improve training for plow operators, to pair newer drivers with highly experienced operators, and to refine vendor contracts so that heavy equipment is available for the largest storms while routine storms can be handled with in-house crews and pickup-plow vendors. Fe said the department will produce a revised snow-operations policy that councilors can review.
The committee did not take formal votes on DPW policy at the session; Fe said revised policies and any written snow playbook will be circulated to councilors as they are finalized.
