Good evening and welcome to our public works committee meeting for November 20th, 2025.

We will begin with introductions with counselors to my left.

Councilor, you can begin.

Thank you very much, ma'am chair Paul Anna, representing District 22.

I'm a guest counselor this evening.

Thank you for uh allowing me to be here, Ms.

Chairman.

Thank you, Madam Chair, Derek Cahill, District 23.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mike Dilk, District 24.

Thank you, Madam Chair, Josh Bain, District 21.

Thank you, Chairwoman, Andy Nielsen, District 14.

Good evening, Chairwoman Jones.

Christa Carlino, District 11, West Side.

Thank you, Chairwoman.

Jessica McCormick, District 16.

Thank you, Chairwoman.

Counselor Jarrett Evans, representing District 17.

Thank you.

And I'm Kristen Jones, representing District 18.

This evening we will begin with proposal number 347 2025, which reappoints Dan Haik to the Board of Public Works.

Please come forward and tell us a little bit about yourself and why you'd like to be reappointed to the Board of Public Works.

So my name is Dan Hake.

I've been a uh council appointee for the past three, three and a half years for the Board of Public Works.

I've enjoyed it.

We've had some uh challenging topics that we've worked through over the past three and a half years.

Um I live and breathe transportation by day.

I'm an associate vice president at a consulting firm where we do transportation planning for the feds and for states and for countries around the world.

Um so this is um my life's work, and so I'm glad to contribute and give back to City of Minneapolis.

Thank you so much.

We were talking before committee started.

What is one of the most interesting topics that you've discussed on the board of public works this year?

Many.

So uh most recently uh we worked together with the department to make some improvements to the snow policy.

Um earlier this year we worked on um safety and the budget.

Um last year we did some umproofements, we had some uh discussions around solid waste and making sure your interests are represented in those discussions.

So uh challenges have been many, but it's been a rewarding experience.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for your willingness to serve.

Anyone on the council who has any comments or questions for counselor Cahill.

Thank you, madam chair.

Uh Mr.

Haig, I just want to say uh I I have told you this privately, but I want to tell you every the uh public that you have frankly been the model of what I hope our council appointees are on any of the boards.

Uh it doesn't always work out that way, but uh you you have consistently kept us on this committee in the loop when something exciting is happening on the board of public works, which is uh challenging for a lot of us to keep up with sometimes because those happen in the middle of the day.

Yep.

Uh and so a lot of times I have to go watch the the video, uh, but I appreciate you keeping us abreast of things that might be coming up or that something that happened and we need to watch, and that separately that you've always been receptive to comments or questions that you've been able to use your position.

Uh so thank you so much.

That's that's been exceptional.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Any other comments, questions?

Counselor Evans.

Thank you, Chairwoman.

I just wanted to reiterate what he had just mentioned essentially in a time when it seems like many people are on these boards and have been there for a very long time.

My idea is that okay, they're just yes people, they don't really ask difficult questions or even keep us in the loop.

And you've changed that entire uh structure for me and how we do things.

And so I've been putting that sort of pressure on the municipal corporation appointees as well, and just really appreciate you and like you said, it's a model for how citizens should be a part of the government.

Thank you.

Yep, thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone in the public who wishes to speak on proposal number 347.

Okay.

Councilor Nielsen.

Uh thank you, Chairwoman.

Uh, I move that we send proposal 347 uh reappointing Dan Haig to the Board of Public Works uh to the full council with a due pass recommendation.

Okay, it has been moved and seconded to send proposal number 347 to the full council with the due pass recommendation.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed say nay.

The ayes have it.

Congratulations, sir, and we'll see you at the full council.

Thank you, thank you.

With consent, I would like to postpone proposal number three forty-eight until Jill can attend at our next comp committee meeting on December 11, 2025.

Thank you very much.

Also, with consent, I would like to move our snow update to the end of our agenda.

Thank you.

Next up, proposal number 348, 2025.

I'm sorry, next app, proposal number 349 2025 approves an additional appropriation totaling 5 million, a transfer for 1.5 million, and a reduction of 1 million in the 2025 budget of the Department of Public Works, consolidated county general capital asset lifestyle and development, transportation general, and solid waste collection general funds for the purposes of financing, increased cost, and the maintenance of the city county fleet, DPW operations, facility needs, early snow response, cover cart transition, and hauler contractual cost.

And Sam, you're up.

Thank you, committee members.

Chief Financial Officer, Department of Public Works.

We have a short presentation prepared on our fiscal, as all of you know.

The fall fiscal is a fairly routine part of the city's fiscal calendar at this point.

So we have a few different items.

So we have a few different items as part of this package.

You can see the summary listed here.

The first three items are going to have their own slides, so we're gonna go into a little bit more detail.

Um, but before I get to that, the the fourth item is an appropriation transfer from the parks capital fund to DPW's capital fund to carry out work associated with one counselor project from uh Prop 283 from uh last year.

That is the 25 million dollar fiscal package with one million dollars allocated to each council district.

Um there is not additional funding being allocated to that program as a total or any one district.

This is simply um a transfer from um one department to another to carry out work um associated with that.

Um so with that moving on to fleet services.

So there is a three million dollar additional appropriation as part of this package.

Um this is for character three to carry out vendor repairs for uh the city uh city's fleet as a reminder, Fleet Services manages the fleet for the entire enterprise, not just DPW.

Um so over the last several years, we've seen substantially increased costs associated with uh third party repairs.

Um as a result, there have been a number of similar fiscals to this.

There was a similar fiscal last year around the same time.

Um unfortunately, due to the critical nature of fleet's work in keeping our public safety vehicles on the road, snow trucks on the road.

Um, this additional appropriations critical in order to have them be able to make on time payments to vendors and to keep the repairs going.

There are a few different factors that have influenced the increased costs we've seen over the last few years, which are laid out here.

So there's been industry-wide inflation, so on average 10% a year increases in vehicle maintenance costs according to uh St.

Louis uh Federal Reserve.

Um, that's obviously more than the economy as a whole.

Some of that represents challenges finding mechanics.

I think all of us are aware of those problems.

Um relatedly, DPW's had our own staffing issues related to fleet services, although our our staffing is up from this time last year.

Um, so we we have seen some improvement there.

Um additionally, aging equipment is obviously an important factor.

This equipment gets older, costs more to maintain.

DPW for our part has along with this council move forward with several significant investments in replacing aging equipment from snow trucks, um, other street maintenance equipment.

We're also moving forward with a new solid waste vehicle lease purchase agreement here in the next few months.

So we are uh continuing to prioritize replacement of aging equipment.

Um, but but obviously that is a contributing factor here.

And then there's some IFD fire department specific issues related to their apparatus.

Um while staffing has improved, we did lose a handful of very well trained um IFD technicians towards the end of last year before the new collective bargaining agreement kicked in.

Those folks are hard to replace.

This these are highly specialized pieces of equipment.

There's long training times.

Um, you know, staffing specifically for those types of apparatus remains a challenge.

Next up, uh solid waste vendor payments.

Again, this is another issue that members of this committee are gonna be familiar with.

Last year, we had a additional appropriation as part of our fall fiscal package of about actually $7 million, so a lot more substantial than what you see here.

Um that was a fund balance appropriation, whereas this is just a transfer within Solid Waste's existing budget, so no net increase.

We're just reallocating funds from one character to another.

Um the the topics that this 1.5 million dollars is addressing are first and foremost close out of our existing hauler contracts with our uh existing vendors, republic and WM.

So, what this will allow us to do is to make sure that we have funding in the 2025 budget to pay all invoices that we expect to receive in this calendar year.

Last year helped us substantially catch up with these vendor payment issues.

But as we move into 2026 with the new vendor, we're looking to make sure that we are rolling over as few costs as possible for the sustainability of our character three budget in 2026.

The second piece of this is a is smaller but nevertheless important is assistance with cart transition costs, which is an ongoing effort, as almost all of you I think know.

Um in discussions with both existing and new vendors.

Uh we determined that a small financial contribution from DPW could have a big impact on the speed at which the old carts uh owned by Republic are removed.

Um so rather than have that process drag on for potentially months, the same vendor that is dropping off new carts on behalf of LRS is actually being used to pick up the existing carts on an expedited timeline.

These costs are being shared between both companies and the department.

Um so again, this is one of those things that as we got into detailed discussions with existing and new vendors, we determined that uh a small financial contribution from the department could go a long way in in expediting that transition.

And so while I'm on this topic, just a quick update because we are at kind of a critical juncture of the cart transition.

Um we have only a handful of carts left to be deployed for the new carts.

So the expectation is is that that deployment will be wrapping up by Thanksgiving.

Now once that happens, and once we've we've put that out there that that process is complete, if folks have been missed, there's you know gonna be a process for making sure that people get their new carts.

And then with the pickup of the old carts, that could that could go on for another couple weeks.

We're currently about um two-thirds of the way there on having the old carts removed, so another third to go.

Um so again, you know, we thank everybody for their patience with that.

One challenge has been frankly getting folks to leave their carts out on the curb after the new cart is dropped off.

So when people don't do that, it clearly makes it harder to pick them up.

So one helpful thing to do is just continuing to encourage folks to uh to leave that cart out there once they have their new ones so that we can more easily have it picked up.

Um DPW operations facilities, once again, an item that this committee is going to be familiar with.

We had a similar request in our fall fiscal last year to allocate funding to the same purpose.

So this would take underspend in uh DPW's budget, put it into our capital fund for facility improvements, and I think it the best way to understand this is to look at what we've done with last year's batch of money, which has been um fully allocated and programmed.

A couple of those projects are either complete or nearing completion, which is some of the stuff you can see on the uh right hand side of the slide here.

So for example, we have us that money.

We're going to be able to address all of the restrooms at our West Street campus.

This is our biggest operations garage hub.

Most of these restrooms have not been addressed in anyone that's here's memory.

Um, and so you can see an example of that at the top here of a restroom, fixtures, flooring, um, that sort of thing.

I know these are not flashy projects, but these are kind of core workplace issues.

Um, and to be able to have, you know, move away from having substandard restrooms at these facilities.

We see that's a really important thing that has a big impact on everybody that works there.

Likewise, this other project that you can see at the bottom is a rehab of our training center uh at um our Belmont property.

Uh, this is another DPW property that hadn't been touched in decades and is um gonna be a very useful space for both union and management to conduct training exercises, not a huge dollar value project, but one that we see having a big impact.

So this funding allows us to continue to pick off some of these kind of core essential facility issues and make our workplaces better, helps with recruitment, helps with retention.

We think they're important investments.

Um that's the end of our presentation on the fiscal.

Happy to take any questions.

Thank you, CFO Barris.

Any comments, questions from our colleagues?

Councilor Arnay.

Thank you, madam chair.

I just wanted to attend this evening and explain to uh my colleagues on the DPW committee uh that the transfer from park to DPW is for my council district.

Uh, we worked very hard for many, many months to try to acquire new land to expand our parks footprint down district twenty two.

After many months, it was deemed that it was no longer a viable option due to increased costs and and uh some some challenges with the owner of the property, and so we've decided that the best way to move forward to maximize the dollars and to give the greatest impact to district 22 residents is to invest in connecting uh the current bluff road sidewalk network further to expand that sidewalk network and to most importantly connect the existing sidewalk network and expand it into the Glens Valley Nature Park.

So not only will people have the ability to be more connective in the community, but they'll also be able to connect straight to an existing park, which is what our district has uh encouraged uh the city to try to do.

So I appreciate your consideration and I appreciate DPW for uh picking up this project and running full steam ahead.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for joining us this evening.

Anyone else have any comments, questions?

Councilor Cahill.

Oh, anyone in the public who wishes to speak on proposal number 349.

No one in the public?

All right, now Council Cahill.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Uh I move that we send proposal 349 to the full council with the due pass recommendation.

All those in favor, it has been moved and seconded send proposal number 349 to the full council with the due pass recommendation.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed say nay.

The ayes have it.

Congratulations.

Moving next, proposal number 350 approves it approves and authorizes the execution of an amendment to an existing franchise agreement with citizens thermal for the operation of a district cooling system in the city of Indianapolis.

CFO Barris, that's up to you next.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair.

So as stated, this is an extension of existing franchise agreement.

Franchise agreements require council approval, which is why it's here in front of you this evening.

Um, this is an extension of Citizens Energy's Chilled Water Franchise Agreement.

They run uh underground infrastructure under DPW's right-of-way, which therefore requires them to have this franchise agreement as part of that.

There is a cost sharing component.

It's essentially equivalent to five percent of the revenue that their uh chilled water cooling system generates or two million dollars, whichever is less that can be uh renegotiated after 10 years under this extension.

Um so uh I will not go into further detail unless there's any questions.

Any comments or questions for my colleagues on proposal number 350?

Anyone in the public who wishes to speak on proposal number 350?

No one councilman Gibson.

Well, thank you, madam chair.

I move that we send proposal 350, which approves and authorized the execution of amendment to an existing franchise agreement with citizens thermal for the operation of a district cooling system in Indianapolis uh to the full council for final adoption.

Second, it's been moved and seconded to send proposal number 350 to the full council with the due pass recommendation.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed say nay.

The ayes have it.

Thank you very much, both of you for the presentation and your hard work.

Appreciate it.

Next up, we have director Wilson for snow fight policy updates.

Thank you, madam chair.

Thank you, members of the committee.

Uh I'd first like to um recognize the staff that's sitting behind me.

We have uh the union, Ask me local 725.

We have members of engineering of solid ways and of our fleet.

So um they are all instrumental in uh pulling off uh our snow response.

Um, and they're here to help answer any questions you might have after the presentation is over.

So um I'd like to recognize them and and and thank them for being here on uh March 13th this year.

Actually, the day that this body uh appointed me as the uh director of DPW.

Um the department recognized and committed to uh the proposal number 69 2025, which amends chapter 621, Article 3 to require snow removal services on local city streets.

The amendment adds definitions for second and third priority streets.

The amendment mandates that DPW initiates a snow removal policy that is approved by the Board of Public Works.

That was done this Tuesday, and it also mandates that the DPW presents this uh snow policy to the city county council public works committee.

Um the amendment also includes provisions that ensures the priority number two streets be plowed at a two-inch accumulation.

Priority number three streets are to be plowed at a four-inch accumulation, and a priority bike network is identified.

Since that day, DPW staff have taken a deep dive into our response to snow events, historical information, staff interviews, pure city interviews, equipment, and technology.

Next slide.

So this slide is pretty much going to identify that one priority one, priority two, and priority three networks.

Priority one are our thoroughfare networks.

Examples of a thoroughfare would be at Keystone Avenue, Washington Street, Raymond Street.

Priority one designation also includes streets that are abutting hospitals and fire stations.

Priority two examples are our connector streets, like an Auburn Street that connects to Washington Street, Drexel Avenue, and Ritter Avenues, they connect to Madison Avenue.

Our priority two network also includes streets that are abutting schools, publicly funded preschools, trustees' offices, and township small claims courts.

And then finally, our priority three network are all of our residential streets throughout the county.

Streets that many of us live on Carrollton Avenue, Audubon, Hawthorne, just to name a couple.

We have more center lane miles than our residentials, but for lane miles, the thoroughfare network is more simply because of the more lanes that we have on those thoroughfares.

So who does what and when do they do it?

At uh zero to two inch accumulation, DPW will uh plow priority one roadway networks.

Um priority two, priority three, and bike and trails will not be uh addressed.

Accumulations between two and four inches, DPW will address priority one and priority two uh networks, priority three and uh some bike lane infrastructure will not be touched.

Uh four inches or more DPW will do the priority one and some priority two networks.

At that point, we'll uh make the decision to call out private contractors to address our priority three network, and also DPW will address uh the bike lane infrastructure as well.

You can see also on this table uh the use of salt is very dependent on multiple factors, weather conditions, rain is a big one where we you know you just don't put salt out because it'll just wash the uh the rain will wash the salt away.

And then that bottom line kind of shows you uh well, what does it look like when we plow those those those roadways?

So our priority one network we're dedicated to plow curb to curb on those, um, and there are there are a lot of uh bike lanes that are on our thoroughfare networks, so those bike lanes will be cleared with that curb to curb removal.

Um, in our priority two and priority three areas will be uh providing a passable lane through a neighborhood.

So next slide, please.

As I mentioned at the beginning, our our folks did take a deep dive, and um we accumulated 45 years worth of weather data to come up with uh this this illustration here.

Um about 22 days uh a season will have measurable snow.

That means that's a tenth of an inch or more.

Um at two inches or more, there's 3.7 days that we should expect in a in a snow season.

Uh and at four inches or more, we should expect about 1.3 days of uh that condition.

We talk about factors on determining our response.

DPW evaluates snow accumulations based on various sources, including uh a paid subscription.

We also uh gather information from the National Weather Service from uh the Indianapolis Airport.

Uh any one of these uh locations, DPW will work with the uh chair of the public works committee and the private contractors to determine a plan of action.

Next slide basically uh talks about the uh personnel needed for our snow fight.

Our union breaks it in part into two shifts, an A and B shifts.

These are 12 hour duration shifts.

Um personnel uh count is approximately 95 personnel with 15 of those being laborers and nine being heavy equipping operators.

What a heavy equipment operator would do in a snow fight would be in our salt barns loading trucks with heavy equipment.

Um we also have staff uh data analyst analysts that uh take the information they get from the field uh and relay that to our comms folks so that we can uh uh inform uh ourselves and the public of uh the status of um our operation.

Um we also uh I want to point out too that our union staff is required to have no vacations between December 1st and April 1st.

So it's all hands on deck.

Um so we take we do take it very seriously when it comes to uh winter weather preparedness.

Um and then we also uh will if if need be will utilize other uh areas of DPWs um like engineering staff to help out with snow fight if need be.

Um equipment.

You know, our heavy snow trucks are the the fleet that clears our our our um thoroughfare arteries.

Um we do have uh funds in our 2026 adopted budget uh for new heavy snow trucks.

So we're going through that procurement process now.

Excited about that.

Um ton plows, we have 14 of those on order as a result of a spring fiscal.

So very, very happy about uh our ability to add those vehicles to our fleet to to handle uh all the um connectors and some of the residentials.

And then we also use uh Kubota's or utility vehicles for our trails networks and and bike lanes.

Um we do have four additional Kubota's on order that should be coming this season as well.

This slide just demonstrates the seven salt barns that we have uh located throughout the county.

Um all those barns were at full capacity uh just a week ago or so.

Um so uh with uh uh but Lafayette Road was not um in April during the tornado, the roof came off of that.

That uh salt barn has been repaired.

The roof went on, I believe, last week, and salt is being uh put in there as we speak now.

So I I believe by next week that salt barn will be full as well.

So the use of uh private contractors.

I'm happy to say that we have under contract five private contractors to uh service the the city.

Um these city these uh contractors will be utilized to plow over 2,000 center lane miles of prior to two and prior to three routes throughout the county.

Um it's important to know that the goal of those private contractors is to provide a passable lane through the neighborhoods.

Um call out for private contractors will range between 700,000 and 1.3 million dollars per event.

Um it's important to know that a retainer fee is also a part of this uh for 130,000.

That one thirty thousand and thirty thousand dollars is not per contractor, that's all five contractors.

Uh so um that 130,000 will be paid off, but it'll be a credit on that service uh the first time that we call uh private contractors out.

Um what is the contractor deployment protocol?

Uh DBW operations will review uh the current weather forecast uh for the present day and the following days.

Once the precipitation is determined uh to be appropriate, contractors will be put on standby.

Once that snow event has come to a close, uh all of the snow contractors will be notified to report to a rendezvous location.

Usually the snow contractors are given about a four-hour window to show up, or not a window, four hours before they are to report for snow duty.

They will meet with a field investigator, take a roll call, set up a line of communication, and then those private contractors will go forth and uh clear the residential neighborhoods.

As they finish a neighborhood, they contact Snow Command to let them know so that we can uh relay that message real time to the public.

Part of the amendment was to uh identify a priority network for bike infrastructure.

Um this map identifies the trail system that we have.

It does not show the protected bike lanes on it.

And the reason why it does not show the protected bike lanes is because of the software itself.

Um the the line data is on the roadway, so we don't have separate line data for a trail and the roadway.

So to assure you that the thoroughfare network and the bike lanes and the protected bike lanes are included in our priority network.

So we have broken those down into also three groups.

Um the first groups are will be our trails listed there.

Um after that, the protected bike lanes down in the mile square.

Once all those have been cleared, we'll focus and uh move resources to our protected bike lanes, particularly on New York and Michigan on the east side, Michigan Street on the west side, 22nd Street.

During snow events, uh trash pickup is always concerned.

Um I just wanted to let you know that uh there is an opportunity for snow service or not snow service, but solid waste service to be suspended for a couple reasons.

Um, through the collective bargaining agreement, if the temperature is five negative five ambient or negative 22 degrees below zero, um, that will suspend all services.

Um, that is to protect our workforce, and that is also to protect our equipment.

Um service be suspended.

We'll put the collection on a sliding scale similar to what we would do on a holiday.

We'll just push it a day.

If that service is suspended for more than or two days or more, that service for that week will be suspended and it will return to the next week's service.

Um waste always also works with operations when they have challenges actually getting to homes if there's excessive snow or ice.

We coordinate internally uh to have our solid waste uh our operations folks go out and address those those high and high sensitive areas, uh those problematic areas.

So we we we do uh work internally to make things happen uh when they're difficult.

Other small topics, but very important, and I know this is a uh a concern for a lot is our HOAs.

Um the department does not have a complete list of all HOAs in the county.

So our approach to this is we will address all residential roads.

It's important to know that we're gonna have uh tell our contractors to provide a passable lane, not curb to curb uh removal.

Those HOAs that expect a level of service that they already have from a contractor or a private contractor.

Uh, if if they expect that going forward, we encourage them to continue using their private contractors for those that service.

Umtown uh miles square.

Our folks, uh our operations folks will put uh uh salt and rem or remove snow and ice from ADAA ramps and salt them.

Um other than that, sidewalks are the responsibility of the adjacent property owners uh countywide.

This not this slide shows the in anapolis snow force viewer.

Just a uh I I believe this snow force viewer view was from our recent snow fight as well.

So this is this is an accurate image.

Um it gives you a link there to to to get to those.

Um it will not have our uh residential roadways on it, uh, but it will have everything else on it.

We we are working with ISA to help develop uh a more modern snow fight tool as well.

So uh stay tuned for the developments on that.

And then uh finally, uh communication plan.

You know, uh during weather events, DPW will provide condition assessment updates and plan of action updates, which our goal is to have that update by noon each day of a snow event.

Um and we'd also provide more updates as weather conditions warrant.

Um so our our goal is to have uh uh direct communications with the public works committee chair, um, and we also do social media uh blasts as well.

And then um so that pretty much explains uh the snow response policy for DPW, and I'm happy to try to answer any questions the committee may have.

Thank you, Director Wilson.

Questions?

Councilor Cahill.

Thank you, madam chair.

Uh three questions on uh on for me if uh if I may.

Uh the contractor process where the field investigator goes out to verify, and and I guess I'll preface this.

I've said this before.

I I am sensitive to the use of contractors because in the 20 plus years I've lived in my house, my street has never been plowed, even when we supposedly have contractors.

Uh so is the field investigator spot checking, are they driving the whole route?

What's what's the verification level?

So I'm gonna answer this question.

But if if my staff uh thinks I've answered incorrectly, please correct me.

Um I because I've done the monitoring before.

Uh I think I did it in 2014, again, maybe in 2018.

Um, so the field investigator meets with the contractors.

They essentially follow them around.

Okay.

It's but it's a spot check.

I don't I don't think our field investigators and monitors are driving every roadway, but they are doing a significant spot check on those areas to uh provide accurate information back to Snow Command.

Okay, good.

Uh is the is the standard for the contractors to bear asphalt, like it is for so when we send our big trucks out, I see bare asphalt underneath.

But when I have seen where I have seen our contractors in the past, it seems like they don't want to tear up their blade and they don't put it all the way down.

They they leave it up a little bit, which still results in an icy condition.

Is that well, I I'll I'll um open this up to our DPW operations folks who handle the heavy snow plows, but I do think we have them off the ground a little bit as well, if if I'm not mistaken.

Yeah, anybody from operations didn't talk on the snow blade.

Yes, what's going on happen?

We have to shane the rail for it with DPW.

Um we don't put them all the way down on the ground either.

We do leave them up about an inch or so.

So depending on the material of the light, they may not clear just straight down to the pavement.

Okay, thank you.

I appreciate that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh there and this the I I do also want to acknowledge the very thorough conversation that happened at the Board of Public Works.

Uh and with relation to the Snow Force viewer, I understand it needs uh significant updates, and uh I understand the the heavy trucks don't have the same sort of like GPS capabilities as light duty trucks do.

Uh there was a mention that uh I think we use uh samsara for some of our own fleet.

Is there is the thought process that like the contractors would put like the Samsara device in their truck and it would directly feed like is that where we're hopefully going in the future?

I'm gonna ask Daniel Stevenson to address the Daniel Hello Counselor Daniel Stevenson, deputy director of policy and planning.

My group does handle technology needs for the department.

So Samsara uh for further clarification.

Um, all of our snow fleet vehicles that are owned by the Department of Public Works are outfitted with that Samsara sensor currently.

Um additional things that we are working on actively as we speak is that that will not only give us real-time GPS tracking location for the snow fleet, but it is also going to come confirm for us that that snow plow is either up or it is down.

Um so we'll get that information to track along with our snow fight this season.

Uh, we have also connecting additional sensors that will allow us to know is that salt spreader open or closed.

So it's either putting assault on the road or it is not.

So that will be outfitted on all of our DPW fleet vehicles, where we run into some issues when we're dealing with contractors specifically, um, is making sure that they would be putting this.

Where we run into some issues when we're dealing with contractors specifically, um, is making sure that they would be putting this.

It's a it's this like a gateway device that you have to connect into the computer of the vehicle.

So it gets a little bit tricky there.

We did include language in the bid packet, um, requesting that they be open to conversation about us requiring it.

In that case, under our license agreement, this would show up in all of our maps, etc.

Moving forward, those conversations are still ongoing on whether or not we're gonna get that in there quite yet for the snow season.

Um, but those will be in there, and then tying to that samsara point um in the new snow force viewer that we are building with ISA with enhancements to our Ezra GIS package.

We would then be able to tie that Samsara gateway information that we're receiving directly into Snow Force Viewer.

So something I think a lot of people don't know as our Snow Force viewer is a very manual process.

We have to enter it into our internal snowfighter tool, it then gets pushed.

This would allow actual real time accurate information, um, with maybe say a five minute delay as opposed to maybe 15, 20, 30 minutes when people call it in.

So thank you.

That yeah, I I am hopeful that the contractors will do that because I I certainly would think that for uh the field investigators and the residents, the ability to look and see where they supposedly went and where they may or may not have missed, that would greatly simplify.

It would get everybody on the same page to your point within five minutes.

Uh that would be exceptional.

So I hope we get there.

Uh and my final question is the there was some discussion in the Board of Public Works about the uh 70 drivers, and is that the appropriate staffing?

And I know there was discussion of uh comparable cities and head council.

I know we have this discussion all the time with regard to public works that it is really hard to benchmark cities, but the we have when we particularly like on the Vision Zero task force, we have really dug into just how many more lane miles we have than really.

I think yeah, any other comparable city.

Uh uh particular consolidated city counties, no one has as many as we do.

So, like, I guess for the benefit of the public, uh we prefer to use the lane miles here in Indianapolis.

We have 8400 lane miles that uh DBW maintains.

Uh Columbus, Ohio, Franklin County is 5700.

We are way above, and that's because ODOT, unlike here, like US 40 goes through the city of Columbus and ODOT takes care of all that, and we're on our own here.

So, in light of that, is is 70 the the right number, or are we financial obligation aside?

Is are we understaffed at 70?

And do we need more money for that?

Or how which just I'm curious your opinion.

That's a that's a very good question.

Um I'll just be honest.

Um, so yeah, I I I would I would say we probably need 20 more drivers.

Okay, and 20 more pieces of equipment.

So just to be honest with the entire group.

So you know, I I think I appreciate it because that is our job here as the fiscal body to if I thank you for saying that you need 20 more pieces of equipment because that's our job to take care of some.

Thank you.

That's all my questions, sorry.

Thank you.

Counselor Evans.

Thank you, madam chair.

Um, you know, as one of the I recall that meeting that we had back in was it February, March.

Uh it was pretty heated.

You know, many of us had just come from our own heated conversations with our constituents, and uh that was relayed at that meeting.

And I just wanted to tell you that the um the information that you've provided, you know, to me that demonstrates that you've listened, that this body's listened to us, that you guys are working to address it.

I I appreciate Councillor Cahill and what he's saying.

I think we I think we all pretty much know 70 is not enough, and it's been confirmed back there that I see all those heads shaking.

Um that's frustrating, but that's for us to start working on.

That's not your guys' fault.

That's partly our blame, I would say, as a council.

So I just want to tell you thank you.

I appreciate it.

This was really good.

I mean, it's it's in depth.

You guys are really adjusting to it, and you know, we're never gonna make everybody happy.

Um, but I think we're heading the right direction, and I think that it really, like I said, it I'm gonna use the term demonstrates, it demonstrates that we are listening in a time when people just hate everything about government.

This was good.

Absolutely.

You know, I appreciate you and appreciate the team and everybody that's helped to put this together.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

This staff has been very, very um cognizant of what we need to do in this process and and and the level of um information that we we need to deliver.

I've I've kind of downplayed it with my staff a bit, but um I could see their dedication and how important it is to them.

Thank you.

Perfectly said, thank you, Counselor Nielsen.

Uh thank you, Chairwoman.

Um Councillor Cahill and Chairman Evans both I think emphasize the points I want to emphasize as well that we don't know yet how successful this will be, but this is substantial progress.

And um, yeah, Councillor Evans, I think you really summarized my thinking as well on this issue, and just want to say thank you.

I know it's been a partnership throughout this year, ensuring that um we at least start making a dent in the equipment uh that you all need to fulfill the mission that we've tasked you with.

Um and as the fiscal body, we're gonna get to work to make sure that you get the other equipment that you do need.

And that's a commitment that I'm willing to make, and I think everyone else here is as well.

Um, but yeah, I mean, I think that when we think about a basic service like snow removal, we have to continue to be going to the uh going back to the drawing board and thinking how we can do better.

Um, and I think that this is substantial progress, and I obviously want to see it be success successful, but just want to reiterate my commitment that if it doesn't go according to plan, that we will sit down, we'll get it done, and we'll ensure that we're providing the the best service that we can for Marion County residents.

Um I can't help but notice that you named a few of District 14 streets on turn the uh prioritization network, so I appreciated that as well.

Um I have a few very easy questions.

Um I encourage my colleagues and others uh watching to also uh watch the Board of Public Works meetings, they were very in insightful educational, and I know you all really got into the weeds of this at even deeper level.

Um question uh that I know is brought up is can you talk about with the sequencing of storms what the what the department's policy will be on that?

So if we have an event that is two inches, but then three days later it's two.

Does that mean it's four?

I know you answered that in the board meeting, but I just for just to be complete here at in public works.

Could you answer that again, please?

Yeah, I appreciate that question, and that that is a a hard decision to make.

Um we will definitely look at what the the conditions of the roadways are between those snow events.

Um, you know, there could be you know uh snow pack where you know that we couldn't clear that snow.

Um so what why would we call out?

And we get another three inches.

So it's it's truly going to be a case-by-case basis that we will consult with our our operations folks, um, and we will make sure that we're making the most informed decision.

We will communicate with our uh public works chair and make sure that you know uh our city county council is being heard on the needs as well.

Yeah, thank you, Director.

Two more quick questions, Chairman.

Um next was, and this is a point of I hadn't thought about this before, but I didn't know if this was a change for the policy.

But the vacation freeze for December through I think it was April, I can find it on here.

Is that is that uh current policy or is that part of the new like is that a new change?

Is that a change?

That is not a good idea.

Okay, okay, that's showing some.

I did not know that, so thank you for bringing that forward, and thank you to AFSME for dedicating your time during that period of time.

I was not aware of that.

That is um, I know it's a tight period, but I didn't realize there was a freeze during that period of time.

So thank you very much.

Um, and then finally, um what is uh, you know, I think because of uh how we got here, right?

And kind of maybe some nerves going into the next season.

Um, what's what's the department's you know communication plan to just make sure residents?

I mean it's incumbent on all of us to educate our consensuates on this, but like what's the department's plan to say like this is this is what's changing, this is what you can kind of expect.

You are do you all have any plans for that in the future?

Yeah, I'm gonna ask uh Chief Clums to come up.

No, thank you.

Thank you, Kyle.

Uh Kyle Bloyd, Chief Communications Officer with NDDPW, pending that the rest of this evening uh goes well.

Uh you'll soon soon see some um substantial updates to www.handy.gov slash snow.

Uh we're talking about how we want to um address uh uh major snow events via our traditional communications channels with traditional media, social media, um the Indy DPW newsletter, and then also uh direct communication between any DPW director and um committee chair, and so uh every every snow event is uh is different, and uh we're gonna certainly want to bring things up a level.

Thank you for that.

I I appreciate that.

And I just want to one more time just really emphasize because I I know this were tense conversations, just how impressed I really am, and I sincerely appreciate your all's hard work, and um we have more work to do over here.

Uh, but thank you, thank you again very much.

Thank you.

Councilor McMorring.

Thank you, Chairwoman.

Um, I have just two questions, sort of clarifying.

One is when we're talking about residential streets, a passable lane in each direction, or just one right down the middle.

It'd be one pass through the middle of the street.

So I'm thinking about school buses and other cars and things like that.

Um I guess is there any way so they only make one pass, there's no way to add a second one in, right?

I know we have the budget part.

Um, so I think that's just something that residents need to know, right?

When we say it's just that one center point, so two cars aren't gonna be able to pass, right?

So that we have that, and then my second question is if we have to suspend our trash pickup service, right?

And it would suspend to the next week and we don't have it for a week.

Um, where can our where can residents go drop something off if they need on their own to go take trash somewhere?

That is a very good question.

I don't even know if we have anybody who has well, I think depending on the time of year and the holidays and all the extra stuff that we sometimes have, that might be no.

So one people would I will verify this and get back to you guys directly um once I communicate with Sean Procker, Deputy Director of Solid Waste, but Southside Landfill would be an available drop-off location.

The other thing I want to specifically note is that if we do have the two days in a row suspended or more where we're pushing it to the next week, the way that we handle that internally is that we have additional staff follow behind the big side loaders, um, so people can leave extra bags down next to their carts, and our crews personally pick those up.

So I really think in most cases people wouldn't even have to drive it, but if they had a substantial amount, South Side Landfall.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilman Gibson.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Uh Director, and uh just want to say thank you very much.

And uh it's clear that uh you and all DPW and ask me, uh heard uh that uh the if you will complaints last year, and you really took it at the heart and mind and came up with a real effective policy that's really gonna make a difference uh in Indianapolis.

And so my hat's off to you, and then thank you very much for that.

In the event that we do have to uh put subconscontractors on the street, and uh and I'm hoping that is minimum if not none, hopefully.

And uh residents are really gonna be happy about getting their residential streets plowed.

Um my question to you is the contractors.

Do you have significant enough contractors contracted and ready to go and event that you we we need to deploy them?

So if you can give me some percentages, are you 100% there?

Are you 90% there?

How many contractors do you have contracted already?

So we have more contractors under contract this year than we ever had in the past.

We we are ready for any snow event that comes.

Well, praise God for that.

And um I I know my uh the the council next to me mentioned about you coming down a center lane.

So a lot of residential streets, uh well, at least in my districts, uh has uh driveways come into those narrow streets.

So you you're gonna plow through the center of the streets, so hopefully that wouldn't block our driveways, right?

Well, well, counselor, yes, it it will power uh snow in front of your driveway.

I live on Allisonville Road, so when DPW comes and plows, I clear my driveway, and I'm like, oh shoot, they plow me in again.

So I've been just to be fair, yes, the they they will they will plow uh snow up, and it'll be a good idea.

Yeah, I appreciate the honesty, and then just letting us know.

I mean, it is what it is, and at the end of the day, at least we can get onto the street if we can get out of our driveway.

Thank you.

I can run it start.

Councillor May.

Me too.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Director, for the presentation.

I think it's um clear that you've heard us, and not only us, but our constituents as well.

Um, I think uh you know, to the rest of the council, this has been a blueprint to how we can work together to advocate for our constituents to better the services of the city of Indianapolis.

And uh I'd be remiss if I didn't also say thank you, Madam Chair, for your leadership uh on this issue as well, because uh I remember during that time we worked very collaboratively together, and uh thank you, Director Wilson, for hearing us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other questions from our colleagues?

Well, Director Wilson, I personally want to say thank you and thank you to my colleagues, and for the constituents listening, I want you to know that you I know it was a tough January, but you were heard.

We all heard from you, and this body, this council did not shy away from a tough conversation.

Um, we all heard you, and the department did not shy away from that tough conversation.

Um, we went straight to work for you, and um, I just want to thank the department, the city of Indianapolis, every colleague here, and the colleague and the city, our council staff.

Um, we were relentless, we didn't stop, lots of meetings, lots of hard, hard conversations.

But at the end of the day, I hope we don't have to use this.

I hope this is a policy we we can laugh about later that we never had to use.

But if in the event that we do, uh the men and the women that work at the Department of Public Works, they're there to support you, and they're there to have a great product to keep our streets in better shape and to get you where you need to be safely.

So, thank you.

Thank you for hearing us.

Thank you all for doing the work and serving your residents and constituents.

You you were heard, and this is a great example.

Um, so when something happens in the city, don't be afraid of a tough conversation because this is what can happen when we all work together.

So and on behalf of Department of Public Works, I really appreciate those appreciate those kind comments.

Thank you.

Thank you all from the bottom of our heart and from this committee.

Thank you very much for everything that you did for our residents.

Thank you.

Three minutes to go.