Okay.

Uh good evening, everyone.

This is uh a meeting for discussion between DPW and the public in the city of Providence because they're looking for answers.

We have to call the role.

What's going on?

So I had to call the role.

Can you call the role, Madame Clerk, please?

Thank you.

Chairman Vogas.

Present.

Vice Chairman Sanchez.

Councilman Espinal.

President.

Council Justin Royus is absent.

Councilman Anavagas is absent.

You have three present, two absent.

We do have a quorum.

Thank you.

Um Madame Claire, may you please read item one?

Item one discussion relative to snow removal and salting.

The following have been invited.

Patricia Coinfing, Director of Public Works, Sal Solomon, Superintendent Highway Department, Richard Perilla, Deputy Superintendent of Highway.

Brandon Olson, associate director of environmental services.

Thank you very much.

I want to say welcome to my colleagues.

I want to take note the councilwoman Anna Vargas is here.

So noted.

So today yes.

Can everybody raise your right hand?

Please do you swear to under penalty and project that the testimony they're about to give us the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Please state your full name and your title for the record, please.

My name is Patricia Coin Feig, I'm the director of the Department of Public Works and Providence.

David Mambro, Superintendent of Silver Construction.

Melanie Jewett, Curbside Administrator, Department of Public Works.

Brandon Olson, Associate Director of Environmental Services.

And we like to know what's going on.

What happens in the beginning of the snowstorm?

What happens in the middle of the snowstorm and what's going on now?

So it's going to be a discussion discussion between DPW and all the questions that we have to you though.

Hopefully, we can have a great answers, a conclusion, and uh a solution.

That's why we're here.

We're now going to take no words, nothing about to make a decision.

The decision will be in you after this meeting.

Do you coordinate with the police department when they have the parking ban?

I'm sorry, I I missed the beginning of your question.

Do you coordinate with police department about a parking bin?

Um when the mayor has decided to institute a parking ban, we do have the police with us in snow operations.

I thought it might be helpful as we start our discussion tonight, if I was to give kind of an overview of how we prepare and the staffing and what it looks like in terms of our snow operations, so that we're all dealing with the same set of information as we pursue this discussion and then answer your questions, if that would be okay.

We had those questions in my in my book about the coordination.

But I can give you time.

You can do that.

Sure.

I would have to that weekend.

Thank you.

Um so this storm that we're talking about tonight is actually the fifth storm event or snow event that we've had since the beginning of December 2025.

But obviously, it's been the biggest and and the most difficult, to be fair.

Um, and so I'd like to just give a little overview of how we do what we do, uh, and then to uh at some point offer suggestions on going forward and how we can do better.

Um I do have at the table with me the people that you invited, councilman, but I also added Mr.

Mambro uh and Ms.

Jewett, because they have been part of our snow ops operation.

At this table, right now, you have in front of you over 75 years of experience in dealing with snowstorms.

Um before a snow event is pred, or when a snow event is predicted, and we've all become amateur meteorologists working at DPW.

We keep an eye on the weather every single day, especially when winter is approaching.

Um, we start to plan.

And before even the summer is over, we've already started planning by ordering salt and supplies, making sure our vehicles are up to snuff, making sure our rental vehicles are secured and that we're gonna have that equipment that we need, uh, and also putting out the invitation to bid, although it's not strictly a bidding process, but an invitation to um join DPW as a snow vendor, and that goes out in uh late summer, early fall, and continues indefinitely.

In fact, that process is still open now if someone wanted to approach us now and say they would like to provide snow vendor services for the city.

When an event is predicted, we sit with a multidisciplinary team, we we talk to our counterparts in relevant departments such as property and parks, um, so that we can make sure that we're all uh have a full understanding of what the plan is.

Um the man to my right, Sal Solomon is is the head of the snowstorm operation.

I mean, I'm the I am the director, but he's the expert, and so I rely on him to help guide what our plan is going to be.

Every snowstorm is different, and so the things that we have to decide from the very beginning have to do with things like staffing and timing.

And so we would present a plan to the mayor saying, based on the forecast, here's when we think we should bring people in.

Here's how many people we think we should bring in, and here's um what we think those people should do.

So, in a storm that is mainly gonna be cold and ice, not so much accumulating snow, for example, we're gonna bring people in to spread salt on the street to pre-treat.

This storm, although there was a pre-treating aspect to it, was more of a plowing storm.

So the salt did go down starting at about five in the morning on that Sunday.

Um, and that salt doesn't really make the fall the snow that falls afterwards all melt away.

It does provide a surface for the plow to grip when later the plow is gonna plow that snow.

We brought in um by 10 a.m.

that day all DPW hands, so that's all uh DPW staff who are engaged in plowing.

And we had uh over 60 city vehicles and rental vehicles at our disposal for that operation.

We also then later we stagger it, we bring in inspectors and vendors.

So the inspectors, we currently have 30 inspectors that were brought in.

That's two per ward.

Um we have gone back to plowing uh on a ward map rather than a sector map that we had been using, because I listened to the people that are the experts in this, and they implored me to consider going back to using ward maps because they were deemed more effective for the people that actually are driving the plows.

Um, and so we have been dealing with wards.

Every ward is split into two pieces, and each piece gets an inspector.

30 inspectors, and those are managed by one individual.

He's from our engineering department.

That is a new development that I put into place to try to streamline and improve inspector services.

We provided training to inspectors, and we also do an annual training for anyone that works snow, including everyone at DPW.

That is an opportunity for especially the younger plow drivers or the newer employees at TPW to benefit from the expertise of people like these gentlemen and many others in terms of what's it gonna be like if I'm in that plow truck for 36 hours in a row.

What do I need to know?

Um and beyond the training that they've already received, it's a good opportunity for for us to impart that wisdom to the younger group.

And the inspectors are now part of that training.

Um another person now manages strictly the vendors.

So the vendors check in.

We have greatly improved the vendor vetting process.

Um we now make sure that their licenses are run, that their registrations are current, that the weights that they're giving us for the vehicles they're bringing us are accurate.

Um and so we've worked very well with Providence PD, and and I'd like to thank them for that.

They've they've been a great partner with us as we vet our vendors to make sure that the people we're hiring are the best people that we can have plowing our streets.

Over the years, and I and and granted, this is my fourth year with the department.

I don't have a long history, but the people that do have have shared with me that the vendors that are working with us now tend to bring smaller trucks than in the past.

I looked back at the stu, uh the the trucks that were brought to us by vendors in the January 2022 storm, which was the last really big storm that we've had, and was impressed by looking at the kinds of trucks they brought, lots of six-wheelers, lots of 10-wheelers.

What we get now is very largely pickup trucks, and to to clear a city this size using a lot of pickup trucks, is a real challenge.

Um we last year increased our rates for our vendor drivers to try to attract more.

Um, and we are one of the highest paid um, we pay more to our vendors than almost every other community in Rhode Island.

Many of our vendors have told us um that they they find it difficult to work in a city.

Um there's there's manhole covers, there's tight corners, there's side streets, there's dead ends.

It's a lot easier to plow for DOT because it's a long straight highway.

Um, and so we're challenged by that, and we know that we need to work within our procurement system to improve our vendor recruitment to see what we can do to get those bigger trucks.

Um, and our fleet also is is in need and has not really been paid attention to for a long time.

This administration did recognize that, and we do have six new snow plows, large snow plows.

Uh they're on order uh and they're not coming until probably October.

Uh, but it's not because we waited.

It's it's taken that long, it's taken over a year for us to get those trucks.

When we get those trucks, they are not going to augment our fleet, they're gonna fill holes.

Um, with all that in mind, we gauge the timing.

We report to SNOPS, which right now is in our new building at 75 Chapman.

I am there, as well as the individual who runs the vendors, manages the vendors.

We have an admin with us, and we have the gentleman that um oversees the uh inspectors.

Okay, all of the inspectors are supervised by two uh people, and that's Richard Perella and David Mambro because of some union issues.

The the supervisors of all the inspectors needs to be non-union.

It's challenging because non-union don't get overtime, and these men work in excess of 36 hours, 40 hours in a row because of the way the ordinances, they can get overtime, but for me to get another non-union person is a challenge, and so we're working through that challenge as well.

Um during the snowstorm, we prioritize uh hills, main streets, overpasses, hospital routes, and whatever tomorrow's trash route is going to be.

Um, this storm started on Sunday morning, snow started falling pretty steadily, got to the point where it was falling two inches uh an hour, and there were points where there were white out conditions where we have to stop everyone for their own safety.

Um, and so there might be a pause, and that's normal during during that kind of a uh snowfall.

Um, in addition to plowing, we have a crew that that uh responds to missing manhole covers.

Um I first got hired.

I I went out with a plow driver in one of the large trucks.

Um we plowed Broadway.

I was in the passenger seat.

I was only in that plow for an hour, and I was exhausted at the end of that hour.

Um, it's a very, very physical job.

And when we ran over a manhole cover, I I frankly thought my teeth might shatter.

It's it's a very, very physical job.

So we do have a crew that responds to those missing manhole covers, which is a hazard of plowing in the city.

Um we also monitor um uh we have the police officer with us to monitor calls for toes when there's a parking ban.

And he stays with us um until they've reached capacity, and so he was with us on Sunday until about midnight.

Uh, and then he he was he was done.

Um what I can say is in addition to plowing and dealing with manhole covers, especially in this storm, just just by way of examples.

Uh at one point there were three tow companies doing towing in the city.

All three tow trucks were stuck in the snow, as was the police car that was with them.

DPW had to dig them out.

We got a call from an elderly couple.

The husband needed to go to the hospital because he had a blood pressure issue.

They didn't want to call the rescue because they couldn't afford it.

So we went and made sure that they were dug out so they get to the hospital.

There were essential workers.

There was a surgeon who had a surgery to perform.

We helped him get out.

Um, and so all of those things also occurred.

Um what makes this particular storm different than January 2022 in terms of the aftermath is the temperature.

Um there's a there's something on I on one of the news channels tonight.

This was the third coldest last week of January in Rhode Island history.

The temperatures after the storm in 2022 were in the 30s.

Um our temperatures after this storm have been in the teens and sometimes in the single digits, and so that makes it extraordinarily challenging to clear the snow.

Once the bulk of the snow storm was over, um, Sal kind of called it at 7.30 on Monday night.

So myself and the other members of Snow Ops who are there, uh I'm not tucked in bed when this is going on.

I was there for all 34 hours in a row.

Um some of the staff is allowed to leave, and and the rest of the staff is then um faced with the cleanup.

Many of the vendors drop out during the storm.

Um, their trucks go down, their trucks get broken, they get tired, they want to leave.

Um, so we never end a storm with what we started with.

Things happen, even some of our own trucks uh get damaged and or or you know, things break.

Um, and so then we shuffle.

If we have one ward that it needs extra attention and and they've lost a truck, we're constantly moving resources around during the entire storm.

That's what we're doing in snow ops.

Um also making sure people are safe and people are doing what we're paying them to do.

Um, and so that's that's where that sort of supervision comes in, both from Snow Ops and from Dave and Richard, who keep an eye on everything.

Because of the challenge with this storm, um, plowing curb to curb would mean burying sidewalks.

And so it's kind of a tough balance, and it's a tough choice for that plow driver who feels like no matter what I do, I'm gonna be wrong.

Um, what the city has done, what DPW has done in the last week is we've contracted with we are now up to seven vendors who are working overnight and have been working overnight since the storm every night to clear like those mountains of snow at the corners and on those streets where the snow, it's just there's nowhere to put it.

And so they're they're haulers, and this is the kind of work they do, and they had the kind of equipment that we don't have, and so we've contracted with them to remove a lot of the snow.

We initially started to prioritize in the commercial corridors because we were hearing from a lot of business owners that they their business was hurting because people couldn't get to them and there was no place for people to park and and difficult to see around corners to even take a turn.

Um, in terms of trash, we were very cognizant that we didn't want people to go two weeks without trash pickup.

Monday was the day, you know, really the the day of the the thick of the storm, and so um there was a trash delay for that uh that trash pickup day, which was wards one, two, and three.

When uh we got back out there, we set up a crew of our own people with uh a packer truck, a garbage truck, and a couple of trucks that we usually use to empty the tippies, um, and then we positioned one of our environmental inspectors with waste management to be the conduit for communication between waste management and highway.

So anything waste management couldn't get to because the street was too narrow, or the the totes were buried in snow or what have you, highway picked up.

Um we repeated that process and that dynamic today uh with our trash pickup with our our route today, and it and it again went very well uh and trash was picked up.

We are going to repeat that as needed uh tomorrow and and hopefully you know by the end of the week it'll be it'll be back to normal.

Today we started an initiative where we sent um mainly white-collar staff who haven't been working, you know, 14-hour days since the snowstorm, so they're a little fresher.

Um we sent them out with ward maps, and they are driving every single city in this, every single street in the city and identifying for us using a GIS map, those streets that still need more attention.

Um and I've just sent the first batch of those maps to to Mr.

Solomon earlier this evening, um, and those are being given priority.

Um there's one other thing that I did.

Hold please.

Um so it's a huge operation, and there has not been a moment since Sunday morning that there has not been DPW work being done in the city around the clock.

Um did we do a perfect job?

No.

I know people are frustrated, and I understand that, and I share that.

Um so as I said, we are looking at some initiatives going forward, but the thing that hurt us the most was the thing most out of our control, which was the temperature.

It's not been for lack of effort or uh interest that that we've faced these challenges.

But I invite your questions.

Thank you.

Have you planned to we we are informed by Ripta um as part of a multidisciplinary group that that talks about all the plans?

I mean, we talk to Pima and and so forth.

Um, and so uh I have no control over Ripta um and and don't have anything really to do with what it is that they do or whether they run or when they run, that's really up to them.

You say how many vendors do you have in total?

So in this storm, we had 30 vendors.

How many trucks each?

Generally one.

So you got 30 vendors with one truck, so 30 trucks.

Generally 30.

Some brought more than one truck, but in total, we had just under 100 vehicles on the road.

When you combine the vendors and the city and rent the how many city or highway trucks do we have total on the rod?

We had 60 one.

61.

So 61 from the from the highway department.

Yes.

And 30 trucks from the vendors.

Right.

And who gave them the order to do yes, the middle of the street, like a one-way city?

Who gave the orders?

Order to yes, plow right in the middle of the street, and that was it.

I mean, because I noticed no treatment was no assault.

They is they just drove the plow right in the middle of the street, and they never came back to wire the street.

Is this a vendor or a city driver?

Any city street look like a one-way street.

If we have 60 years, or you like you say a hundred years in experience, we have a department, sure department.

So who took the responsibility that they told them, yes, go in the middle of the street, don't wire the street.

We do curb to curb.

So for them do curb to curb this time.

Right.

So for those streets where that where the where the um plowing was not effective, that's on the inspector to know that, and it's on the supervisor to know that the inspector is paying attention.

Um if streets were missed or not done properly, we have gone back.

And there was pre-treating done at started at five in the morning on Sunday.

The pre-treating began, and that crew came in before everybody else.

We all you respect director.

If these inspectors didn't do their job as watching the vendors, that falls on you.

True because you are that director.

If they're not communicating to you what's going on down the street, right?

So now I think that's where the problem happens.

Miscommunication between your position and uh guy who's watching the inspectors, and the inspectors are watching the trucks that they didn't know what they were doing.

So what I can say is the inspectors are monitored throughout by someone whose only job it is to do that.

We are in constant radio contact.

If we haven't heard from an inspector in a while, we reach out to that inspector.

What are you doing?

Where are you?

Um I would like to improve the accountability there because I can't be everywhere at once.

Um and even the even the supervisors can't be where all the inspectors are at once.

Um they the everybody's doing a lot of things during the storm.

But I think there is an opportunity there to improve the accountability of the inspectors.

Okay.

Uh yes, Consumer Sanchez.

Thank you.

Um, yeah, I just want to first uh you know, acknowledge sorry, I want to uh take note uh Consumer Royals is here, please.

So noted.

So noted.

Um no, like I was saying, I just want to first acknowledge um you know you guys being here and willing to engage in this conversation.

This is uh a topic that is uh on everyone's mind.

You know, we all have heard from hundreds at this point of our neighbors um regarding the situation.

We all have heard from hundreds at this point of our neighbors um regarding the situation, and you know, like you mentioned there there is stuff out of our control, but what we're here to do is have a productive conversation to to see what we did, uh, and more importantly, what can we do to improve uh going forward?

Uh but definitely, you know, acknowledged all the hard work uh that the workers of DPW have put in uh in the past couple weeks.

Uh but with that being said, just to build on uh the questions about the inspectors, director, can you break down exactly who are the 30 inspectors?

Like obviously not named, but are they city employees?

Are they uh contracted workers, are they vendors?

No, they're city employees.

And they they um indicate their interest in being an inspector.

This this again was a uh a system that was a little too loose for my liking.

Um and we tightened it up a lot.

Um so we have uh inspectors that have been doing it a long time, and they're very valuable.

Um, and there are also inspectors who have plow experience.

So if you're an inspector who happens to have plow experience, uh we'll put you in a plow.

And so, in addition to being able to say, like, hey, you missed a spot, they can plow it.

Um, and so we do have a number of inspectors that we did put in plows.

We've done training with inspectors that was never done before.

But basically, there are city employees, they come from throughout city government.

Some are from DPW, some are from other agencies.

They have to get the support and permission of their supervisor and their directors to attend and be inspectors.

Um, and so the the level of experience does span, you know, there's there's there's a gamut of of experience.

There's there's men and women who have been doing it a very long time, they're very expert at it, and then there's some new ones this year.

Um, and so what we try to do when we're assigning them to their wards is to make sure that we're pairing, you know, those pairings are gonna be productive.

We I try not to put two brand new inspectors together in a ward, want to give them the benefit of somebody else's experience.

Thank you.

Um how uh how how's the selection process for these inspectors?

And uh just another question as well.

How long are they allowed to work uh at once?

Are these folks also staying on the on the road 14, 16 hours in a row?

Right.

So the way they're selected is we did um produce for lack of a better term, an application because we wanted to make sure that they understood the job and that their supervisors and departments were supportive because I I'm gonna be taking one of their workers away, potentially on a work day.

Uh they're not gonna be doing their, for example, DIS work, they're gonna be working at DPW and wanted to make sure that the directors were aware of that uh and were supportive of that.

Um they do meet with the the person in charge of the inspectors just to make sure that you know they understand what they're getting into and then and then we we we do train them.

Um in terms I forgot your second question.

It was how do I select what?

Oh, are they on the road?

Yeah, they're there for the duration.

Um so in a long-term storm like this, we certainly um we impress upon not just the inspectors, but the plow drivers and everyone who's out there to recognize when they're feeling fatigued and to tell us so that we know why we're not hearing them on the radio, and to be able to take that rest.

Um it's very, very important.

Uh, I don't I don't want anyone to be unsafe.

I don't want somebody driving the uh a plow vehicle or really any vehicle out there that when they're not at their best.

And so if they get sleepy, if they get hungry, um, we we try to make sure that those things are addressed so that they can keep going.

But they're there for the duration.

Thank you.

Uh last question on this topic.

Um is this a normal common practice across municipalities in Rhode Island of having city and contracted vendors plowing, uh, then having municipal employees uh supervise or inspect um and then having another layer uh of supervision.

It just seems to me that and and I like to hear that some of the inspectors did have plows, but it almost seems like I don't want to say we're duplicating efforts, but it seems that anyone that's out there on the road at that point uh should be behind a plow truck.

Uh uh to be fair.

Um I don't know if we could pair these inspectors with plow drivers going forward, but it just seems like there's a lot of resources uh that aren't removing snow at the end of the day.

So the inspectors are so to your point about other municipalities.

Um I do believe other municipalities use contracted vendors, probably the larger cities.

Excuse me, I'm not so familiar with their um use of inspectors, but I can tell you that um every it's a team, right?

So every so if you come in and you're gonna inspect for us, we're gonna put you in a ward.

So every so if you come in and you're gonna inspect for us, we're gonna put you in a ward, we're gonna when we check you in that night, we're gonna tell you what ward you're in, give you a map of that ward, um, and also tell you who your plow drivers are.

And then you and your vendors and your city plow drivers, if applicable, meet before any work starts.

You go and you meet at the corner CVS, and you all get together and you say, like, I'm Miguel, um, your so-and-so, you're a so-and-so, I'm gonna be your inspector tonight.

And we've tried to keep the same teams together for each snow event so they get to know each other, so they get a better sense of how they work and and so forth and communicate with each other.

Um, I think that you know it might look overly bureaucratic, but honestly, it's a it's a redundancy meant to provide as most comprehensive information as you can.

So I don't want to rely strictly on a vendor to ensure that a street was done.

I want a city employee telling me, yeah, it was done or no, it wasn't.

And we check in with them frequently and we don't call off an event until we are satisfied after hearing from the inspectors and the supervisors that the roads are in decent enough shape to pare down the operation.

Um and so it might seem unwieldy like I have so many people out there, um, but they all have a very specific job to do, and it's all with an eye toward uh making sure that the work gets done properly.

Thank you.

Um before we continue, um director, can you just explain what's Melanie and Brandon's role in a snowstorm?

You you've mentioned everyone else.

Yeah, sorry.

So just so we're aware.

Yep.

So um I'll start with Brandon.

He was on the invite list for this um uh meeting, and so he's here.

But um to be perfectly fair, Brandon's first day working for the city was last Monday.

And so he got the day off because it was a it was a snow day and the city was closed.

Um so he's really had nothing to do with snow, to be perfectly honest.

In the aftermath, he has definitely worked with us and with waste management, really jumping in with both feet.

Um it's only a second week on the job.

Um, but he's here because he was invited to be here.

Uh Melanie is here at my request because she also has been integral to our operations, particularly in scheduling um a couple of nights right after the storm where we focused on missed streets or 311 complaints.

Um and we had crews out that night specifically with lists from 311 of those streets that that needed the attention.

Melanie is also our curbside administrator, our parking administrator.

And so in the beginning uh stages of a snowstorm, we also look at the micromobility in the city, so this um scooters and bikes and whether they need to be disabled and what time should they be disabled, or do we need to ask the vendor to remove them from the city streets, especially in a weather event that's gonna involve a lot of high winds, we want to get those things off the streets so they're not flying around and hurting people.

Um and so Melanie is is integral to that.

She has uh a work history that includes planning, um, and so she's very valuable to the team, and and so that's why I asked her to come.

I am by Brandon because he is a new environment is to know what's going on with the trash problem that we have, that they are sitting on the pile of a snow bank because we didn't do a good job plowing the streets.

That's why Brandon is here.

It's not because he's gonna be shoveling snow tomorrow.

Right.

But he needs to know what's going on because it's the same department as a DPW team.

Sure.

That's why.

And and and respectfully, um, counselor, it's it's uh I understand there were trash there were trash totes in a in a snow pile um because maybe there wasn't uh another good place to put it.

And I I understand that it goes back to what I said earlier though about the volume of this snow to push it out of the street, it has to go somewhere.

And so we're trying to create that balance between burying people's sidewalks and opening up that street.

For those trash um carts that were placed in snow banks yesterday and today, highway retrieved them and emptied it.

When waste management couldn't reach the trash because of um the narrowness of the street or what have you, we have taken care of that, and so the trash has been dealt with.

Uh Consulman Twice.

Thank you, uh Chair.

Um Director, I just have a few uh questions that might be redundant.

I just want to make sure that before I leave, I fully understand um uh your your remarks.

Um I just want to first start uh off by saying similar to Consul Sanchez, um, and you're not really supposed to have favorites, I guess, in state government, but DPW is I love DBW.

I just want to say that public uh you all are um interfacing with the public.

We work collaboratively together.

So um I I I have to say that because I think there's there was internal communications um I I don't want to get into it, but uh it was um insinuated that perhaps um I was being um anti worker, anti-DBW worker in my remarks, which I thought was really diplomatic, um uh that I posted on social media and I was just simply trying to validate frustrations by constituents while at the same time uh upholding the humanity of the workers behind the plows, and that was a difficult balance.

Um and as much as I was trying to uh remind my constituents to extend grace to DBW, I think they ran out of patience and I had to also validate that.

Um and so I just want to I'd say I appreciate you all and the the hard work you do.

I sincerely do.

Um Sal, I know, you know, specifically Sal, I communicate with him a lot, and um I hope that in my communications with him and everyone else, you all know that I sincerely appreciate the work you do every day.

So I just want to start off with that because I think we could easily personalize this because of how much effort you put into your your roles.

Um I just uh going back to sort of the the the question around around uh vendors and um and city owned uh uh operators.

Um I so I heard that we had about 30 vendors and about 61 city owned uh operators, right?

Yes, is that pretty much okay?

Um just so I understand, so you have and how many inspectors?

30, 30.

And how many inspectors per ward?

Two.

Two inspectors per ward.

And I'm sorry if you're repeat this because I was a little late.

Um if a an inspector doesn't have like so does every inspector, I know they have to be on for the duration.

Um I think as you just mentioned, are they equi is every inspector equipped with a plow?

It doesn't okay because not every ex inspector has the ability or experience to operate a plow.

So when I give you those plow numbers, it doesn't include the inspectors who might have a plow.

Okay.

Um but they are they're they're in uh four-wheel drive or all-wheel drive vehicles by the city.

Okay.

I thought I thought you mentioned that.

So is it so for some who are not behind the plow, is it as basic as they're driving around uh throughout the storm in their assigned area, making sure that each street is plowed, um, and they're given a map um in advance, and they're just making sure that the the vendors are doing their job.

Is that kind of what I'm getting at?

Yes, and they're also um identifying trouble spots that maybe we don't know about yet, or um and they and and they are often called on to assist with you know, they they see people who are stuck in a snowbank or whatever, and and and they work with that as well.

Um but generally what you described, yes.

Okay, okay.

I you know uh it does feel and I I'm glad you brought up sort of tightening up that process.

It does feel like potentially depending on who's the inspector.

I just think that it it's I worry about the intention span of inspectors who are not operating a plow and are simply driving around a uh uh a you know a s a small area for multiple hours.

Like I'm worried about like that their stamina if that's all they're doing, and I my worst fear is depending on who it is, you know, that that level of countability kind of quitting without anyone knowing.

You know, that is you know, for lack of better words, that's my biggest fear.

So I have two if I if I please I have two um kind of stop gaps stop gaps for that.

One is the communication that's taking place throughout the storm with the inspectors.

That's gonna mitigate against you know, somebody ghosting us or just we're hey, we're haven't heard from Bob in four hours.

Like that doesn't happen.

Um and the communication between the inspector and their plow drivers is supposed to be ongoing as well.

And we all have radios, so we're all listening.

Um and so if something's not happening, we start asking why, and we start looking into that.

The other thing though is um the the two men who do the supervision.

Now they're also plowing and they're also working, but part of their job is to to be a resource for those inspectors, especially the newer ones who might feel insecure about how do I deal with this, or my plow driver's not listening to me, you know, my vendor's not listening to me, what do I do?

Um, and so there's that.

When people are fatigued, as I said, we encourage rest.

I have had inspectors who who at some point during the storm tap out.

They can't do it anymore.

I don't want anyone to be unsafe.

It happens.

Um so you know, what can I do?

We we let them go home.

Uh and it's not um it's not, it doesn't happen a lot.

You know, they're they know what they're in for.

And and what we try to do is give them as we're planning a day, a day and a half ahead, um, we warn them.

Um we we use a system called OnSolve.

Some people also call it code red, because I think that's what it used to be.

Um, and so everyone that works snow is registered in that system and gets a phone call from an like an automated phone call from DPW saying, you know, storm coming, you have to be at 75 chapman at 10 o'clock, that kind of thing.

But what we've also done uh in recent storms is you know, this storm started being forecast a few days in advance.

People everyone started buzzing about like, oh God, we're gonna get this really big storm.

We reached out to every inspector and just kind of gave them a heads up hey, the chances are really good you're gonna get called in on Sunday.

So cancel your plans and rest up, you know.

Um, and so we try to make sure that people are well prepared.

We provided every inspector with a uh kind of a go bag of supplies that they can use during the storm, um, all different kinds of you know, gloves and hats and and um all different kinds of things.

We always make sure that they provide for hydration, believe it or not.

Um, that kind of thing.

We make sure that they understand where the gas stations are that they can refill their city cars.

In this last storm, five of the 12 gas stations that we use ran out of gas.

That's how much we were traveling around the city and and what a what a strain our operation was putting on the gas supply.

Um so they're not just sitting around in a corner in a back parking lot, they're out there, they're following their plow drivers and they're making sure that their area of the world is is getting done the way it's supposed to.

Got it.

Chair, could I just ask a few more questions if that's okay?

Please do don't take too much, no time.

Come on, be yeah, sure.

Um so two two inspectors per ward.

How many um how many plows in a ward?

And um, and what is the breakdown between city-owned plows of vendors for each ward?

So it depends on the ward.

Um, and that's a um a function that that is mainly done by Sal in advance of a storm.

Um some wards have a lot more hills, need a bigger truck, what have you.

Some wards have more smaller side streets that are difficult to maneuver around in a larger truck.

Um we know what the vendors are bringing us and have inspected their vehicles, frankly, well before winter starts.

Um and so we usually kind of know what we're getting.

Um and so he will assign those uh city trucks and vendor trucks to the different wards depending on the character of that area of the city, what's gonna work best.

That said, during the storm, if a truck goes down, if a truck breaks, if the vendor checks out, or what have you, um, we shuffle.

And so that's that's a coordinated effort in Snow Ops between the gentleman who um supervises the vendors and the gentleman that in that supervises the inspectors.

And so sometimes we may redeploy a team to a different ward um if if somebody runs short.

Got it.

And um uh the what is the uh like the logistics behind, can you just talk about the logistics behind or maybe the communication?

Uh what does that look like internally in terms of uh making sure that uh let's say a a vendor or um uh city uh operator uh finishes their shift, they tap out, and a new uh uh person steps up and uh continues the plow efforts, perhaps uh in a new shift.

What is that um communication look like if far as far as hey, I I'm finishing my shift, I just did uh this street here, this street here.

Sure.

Um and um and is that is that like a manual tracking, or is that is there a is it uh is there like an internal electronic mechanism or just pretty much hey, I'm calling you to let you know I've done the XYZ.

Right.

So first in a in what we would call an all hands storm, which this one was, there's no other shift coming to relieve you.

Everyone's already there.

Um and so but in the in the in a in a system where let's say a plow goes down and I'm now I'm gonna deploy you, you know, you were working in four, but now I'm gonna send you to ten.

Um we ask them to get together uh and meet with who's ever been in 10 to say, like, all right, how are we doing?

Where are we?

What you know, so that communication is person to person.

Um there was a time prior to um prior to me getting here prior to this administration where there was a GIS system that had been put in place.

Um it frankly wasn't very effective.

Um it was difficult for the particularly the vendor drivers to to maneuver the way it worked.

Um and so it never really it never really delivered on on I think what it could have.

Um and so the the pursuit of a system that would give us a little more real time, you know, actual visual, um, is something that that I would like to pursue.

Um and I think it could be very effective.

Great.

And last question, uh uh Chair, I know I'm monopolizing.

Uh this uh uh the city, the city's what is DPW's role and um uh I'm I'm a lot of constituents reach out to me um and want you know asked me to ask this.

I'm also very interested in this um the this uh answer.

And I will just another caveat is um uh I want to give credit to the city um uh for uh shoveling the sidewalk uh uh along branch Av.

I think that's the first time in the city's history that that's been done, and so I was gonna uh give you all credit publicly about that uh very soon, but while I'm here I wanted to say that.

Uh but on that topic of sidewalks, uh what it what is DPW's role in in clearing sidewalks in a perhaps timely manner um and uh bus stops and um in collaboration with school partners in terms of making sure that side the sidewalks that are near uh schools are cleared so that students and families can walk them safely.

Sure.

Um so first I I I did want to point out that um parks, the parks department has its own snow operation that works with us uh as well as public property.

And so um that priority that I talked about earlier, that our first priority is the hills, the mains, the overpasses, the hospital, and who's ever getting trash picked up tomorrow and school route.

The next level in that in that priority tier is the secondary streets.

That's the neighborhood streets.

Those are the that's you know, very often where the where the biggest headaches can be.

Um that's so that's kind of like next.

Um a little further down are the things like the bike lanes.

Um we prioritize the areas near bus stops.

So a strict bike lane might take a back seat to a bike lane that ends in a bus stop.

Okay, and so that's where we are now, and that also includes sidewalks.

As you know, business owners and residents are required by ordinance to clear their own sidewalk.

There is not a good list um or hasn't been a good list of what are the city sidewalks that we are responsible for um clearing.

And so I tasked our engineering division and our own GIS coordinator yesterday, uh, or two days ago, I can't even remember what day it is, um, with creating a map of all city-owned property and adjacent sidewalks.

And so we've um Melanie actually is helping to distill that into a a list from a map.

Um, and that is gonna be that's next on our priority list.

Um we has uh as you noted, we have done some um sidewalks is a challenge because we don't always have the right machinery.

Um our friends at property have helped us because they have some of that smaller machinery, as have our friends at parks.

And so the the little bobcats, sometimes the skid steers that need to be done for sidewalks.

Um, but it's it's definitely a work in progress.

Um, but we know its importance.

Um the you know, the the problem is with a limited staff and limited resources, that prioritization has to take place.

I'd love to do sidewalks on day one, but I s have to do the hills, mains, and trash route and hospital routes first.

That makes sense.

Thank you.

Um so the last we're going to leave this these inspectors alone.

You better talk to them.

They block a street on behind the donkey donors on behind the autos on the only.

They blocked the street for four days.

Good thing that they didn't nobody got sick, and they called the rescue because they use somebody else properly to get out out of that little street.

Finally, after several calls I make, they went and cleaned it.

So I don't know how come you train these kind of inspectors that you talking about.

But safeties first.

They left a pile of snow right at the end of the street, and they didn't notice that they have more houses down the street.

Why?

You had to talk to them.

Sure.

Also, you saying that you go, you worry about safety.

They left William the Bay to school with a bank of snow right in the front.

And then the buses have to stop.

Drop the kids where?

In the bank of snow?

Because they have no way how to drop the kids.

Of course, they did the sidewalk, but they didn't do they didn't do the entries to go into the school.

And that's the issue that we have.

Nobody has driving around.

You give them coffee.

No, this is business.

This is taxpayers' money that we use in to go and shower in the snow.

This is not a first rodeo that we have here.

Right.

This is not a first snowstorm that we have in this and this city.

This is New England.

If I may, um, I will say that uh I neglected a piece of uh Councilman Royce's question about PPSD.

And property does coordinate with PPSD.

That's that's generally been their purview.

Um some of the some of the pictures you're showing me.

I mean it that we need to do better.

I agree.

Um I will say that one of the challenges that I heard repeatedly during this storm is people depositing snow back into the road.

And I have I have a photo I didn't print it out, but I have a photo on my phone that I'd invite you to look at where one of the vendors that some business hired to clear a parking lot next to a business, dumped a mountain of snow in the middle of the street curb to curb.

The snow the street was completely impassable.

And they just left.

Well, were you inspector?

No, this was well after the storm.

But your inspector should go back and they are intact these people if they doing that.

Agree.

And so first thing we did was we cleared the snow away.

And secondly, I'm now currently working with one of the property owners to see if there's surveillance footage so we can figure out who did it and find them.

But um, you know, so so that's not the inspector's fault because the inspector was long gone by then.

That was days later.

Um but it is a challenge, and we you know we know that there's lots of challenges, and we want to try to meet them.

You have a question, uh yes.

Thank you, Chairman, for give me the opportunity.

Thank you.

Uh um PW will be here to have a question.

My question, I had two questions, and she mentioned for the take the car out.

Each word have a parking bent.

So with the location for each word to parking the people in don't take the car out.

Because right now, because we have a salada housing, people parking outside because no have a in a parking lab because it's construction of the parking.

So I want to know where's my parking bent when I have this problem to send the people there because I I don't have that information.

Sure.

So um, as you're I think you're referring to the city has set up and worked very closely with council to set up um uh a location in each ward where when there's a parking ban, people can go to that location and put their car.

Those locations are listed on the city's website.

I can get you a list and and certainly show you where they are in your ward.

Um, if you mean where do the cars go when they're towed, or did you mean where do you put the car during a ban?

For example, you mentioned see the parking is outside on the street, so it's take it out, it's take it, go away.

But for me, my question is see you have a panky uh uh parking bands.

Right in my work, word seven, for example, where I have to send the people, my clin to say, hey, this is the parking vents, go over there.

Your car, you know, take it out.

I don't have that.

That's my question.

I can get you that.

Melanie will get you that.

And then another question is do you have it in no budget for putting the soap in the east tree?

Because some street, I know you're doing the the the first and the each word, but each tree needs so, you know, to clear it out.

And I see it a lot.

I think you saw uh so uh can he ask my question uh when I call you?

Um yeah, so I can tell you how much salt we bought and used.

Yes.

It's within it's part of the snow budget overall.

Um and we have two salt locations currently.

Uh one is one is down right down the road from DPW on land that that uh we're storing it until April.

Uh and then we have another salt pile at Obadiah Brown that is like our auxiliary, it's a smaller pile of salt.

Um, and so those two that's so that two ends of the city can be can be treated without everyone having to come back a long way to the other pile.

If you know what I mean.

Um, do you want to talk about what we bought and what we used?

So we bought around, we had probably about 5,000 tons of salt, about 800 tons of mix.

Are you asking when does the salt or the mix go down?

Yes, because at E Street, because I know you put in the the first, but for example, I I talk about my my work.

I mentioned my street.

It's not clear.

You know, you know, I can mention so many streets over there because not putting so it's clean up, but it's not putting the soul.

So mainly as we said, the salt goes down before the snow arrives.

Um, secondly, once uh road is cleared as best as we can, it's supposed to shoot us uh salt material or mix right down the center.

Okay.

That's my question.

Thank you, Chairman for giving me the opportunity.

Uh you're really thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

So I I just like to start thanking you all for everything that you do.

I've been on for uh six years.

Uh you guys have been very responsive.

And every time I call, uh you're always there and do a great service for the city.

Um definitely not gonna judge what you do in the department based on one snowstorm.

Um and you did a good job.

Uh uh explaining what the structure of the uh department is, uh what the how many equipment you have and who's will be responding in uh during the storm.

But uh the only thing that I didn't get that I can uh uh have some meaningful input, it's what the strategy was.

Uh I I'm not sure that you were able to define what what type of strategy you had uh when we're expecting anywhere from 15 to 20 inches of snow.

I imagine that that has to be different than we're gonna have three inches of snow.

Uh uh, so I don't know what the preparation for that was.

Um so that I can make more sense.

Uh because at the end of the day, uh what we see in Providence, uh, I saw in other cities that I visited.

Uh so in going forward, uh, you know, we we can be critical tonight, but what's going on uh a constituents are gonna judge us basically on what are we doing tonight?

What are we gonna do moving forward?

Will this repeat itself?

So that's why I'm asking what the strategy was so that we can perhaps change that or improve that.

I don't know, uh, because uh what my colleagues are saying, what my constituents are saying is that every street, except for the main roads, every every street was just plow right in the center of the road.

So today they have become uh unpassable on two-way streets.

Uh if you got especially if you have school buses, uh maybe ambulances.

Uh so what was the strategy?

What what what was the ultimate goal?

Uh what was the plan?

Are we were we going uh just the center lane, or are we going curved the curve?

So the strategy in every storm is different because every storm is different.

Okay, so if we're uh I think the first storm that I talked about, which was in in December, early December, I have it written down.

It was two inches.

Um so that's not an all-hand storm.

That's the day we'll start with with me talking to Sal saying, okay, what do we what do we got?

And what what are we gonna do?

Um and using his expertise and and um experience, we develop the approach to whatever the incoming storm is based on the forecast.

Now, in my next life, I want to be a meteorologist, because the forecast is not always we don't always get what we think we're getting.

Um, but I we like to be over prepared.

And so we will develop a staffing plan and a timing plan.

It depends on what day of the week it's gonna fall.

A storm that's gonna hit us on a Wednesday is gonna have a different approach than maybe a storm on a Saturday night uh or a Sunday, and then decisions about what's open or closed, which are not my decisions, but those decisions are are made based on the forecast and where we are in the week and what's going on in the city and and how disruptive um this particular forecast looks like it's gonna be to people's lives.

Will there be school?

Will there not be school?

Um, and so forth.

And so our strategy though is always to get things opened up as fast as we can, um, to make things as safe as we can and to get the city cleaned up as fast as we can, and also uh in making sure with that priority list that the trash can be picked up the next day.

Right.

As I said in the beginning, the the unique, well, not unique, but the the factor in this storm was the low temperatures after the snow fell.

Um that made this storm extremely challenging.

Um at some point, that snow becomes like cement because it's in the single digits and it's very difficult to move, and that's part of why we brought in those snow haulers.

We have currently moved, I want to say over 1200 truckloads of snow out of the areas of the city where the snow haulers are working.

Branch Avenue is one of them.

Um it's different in every storm, councilman, and I rely on the expertise of my team to tell uh to to inform that process so that I can communicate it back to the people that I'm responsible to answer to.

Um, but the goal is always the same.

The goal is always to get the city cleaned up and opened up.

So uh let's say that in the middle of February, we're forecasting an additional 15 inches.

What will you do different?

What will you do then that you do want to take that?

Do not extend they're not do this time.

Right.

Well, it depends how cool it's gonna be, basically the same way.

We're trying to get crib to crib as fast as we can.

A three-inch storm is is gonna be, you know, I think I think we've had four storms in a row so far this season that were the biggest one I think was four inches, maybe five.

Um and and you know, we they've been generally overnight.

So we work overnight, we work all night, they plow all night, and in the morning everyone wakes up and looks out their window, and generally their street is plowed.

Um this storm was more and harder and and and more difficult.

And we we did ask people in the very beginning, like you gotta be patient with us, but we've not stopped.

We're not there are people working right now.

Do you feel that you had the right amount of workers to batter this storm?

No.

Um, and as I said, prior prior to this administration, this department has been neglected.

The fleet is not what it needs to be for a city of this size.

Um staffing is a challenge in in Providence in DPW generally.

Um the I know that there's a compensation study that's gonna be done um in conjunction with 1033 to look at look at what what do we pay people who work for the city um uh in in jobs like in highway, like the laborers and the plow drivers and the equipment operators in highway.

What do we pay them?

And is it right?

How does it compare to other places?

It's difficult to recruit to DPW, and we do have a number of vacancies.

Um I'm never gonna sit here and tell you we have everything we need, we're all set.

That's never gonna happen.

But I can tell you that you know, years of not paying enough attention to this department is has now come home to roost.

And so I am gratified that this administration has already recognized that.

We've already gotten additional resources allocated, as I said, the plows aren't here yet, but there's at least a recognition that this is a department that you really do need to maintain in order to provide those essential city services.

Right.

It almost feels like the uh the magnitude of the storm was not one for a vendor with a pickup truck.

It was it demanded more than that.

I mean you were at some point I think it was two to three inches per hour.

So that may also play the role.

So what do you feel that a council could do and should do uh to enable you to do a curve to curve?

Is there anything that we could do as a council as far as resources or whatever it is that you feel that we should uh provide you with?

Certainly um, you know, when when we have discussions about resources at budget time, you know, I I I've always had a good relationship in that in that conversation with you all.

And so I know that's a conversation we're gonna be having.

One of the things that I think would also be enormously helpful is to help improve communication, both to you as the council members and to your constituents, um, generally on a day-to-day basis, but but particularly in an emergency situation like this kind of storm.

Um we had previously uh sought a position uh the community liaison for DPW.

That's something that I'd ask you to consider going forward as a piece of what we need to do going forward to improve.

And to finish my point, councilman uh I just want to add that the results of the work that you do out there, it doesn't just reflect on you.

It reflect on anyone in government, the mayor, the council, uh, the departments, anybody that gets paid by the city of Providence is reflected on.

And I understand is extremely difficult.

So when it comes to resources, that's why I say what do you need?

Because we need to do a better job next time.

Thank you, Director.

Thank you, Chairman.

Councilman Sanchez, you have a question?

Yes, Chairman.

Thank you.

Going back to the parking ban, uh, director, you you said by 12 by midnight on Sunday we had reached our towing capacity.

Is that what you had said?

Or that was the point where um the police officer deployed to us um was done with his tour with us, and it was, I believe, because the they had made the decision that they had reached capacity.

And you what what's the I know that um nearly 300 cars were towed?

300.

And almost 400 tickets.

The 300 is a subset of that 400.

So like 100 additional tickets uh weren't sold.

Right.

So once that compatic city is reached, you know, it would have been uh midnight uh Sunday going into Monday.

Uh is there uh because the parking ban didn't get lifted till Tuesday morning, correct?

Yeah it was Tuesday.

Yes, correct.

Wait, was there any efforts on Monday to increase that capacity?

Or I guess what what's DPW's role in in a parking ban?

So we um we are part of the conversation when the decision is being made to impose a parking ban or not.

It's not our decision, obviously, but we try to help inform it.

And then once the decision is made and communicated to us, we work within the parameters of that decision.

And so if a decision is made to lift the ban, that's you know, it's not it that's not our role.

It's not it's not the role of the DPW director to decide when when there's a parking ban or when it should be lifted.

So we we work within um the direction that we're given.

That's interesting because uh because I feel like you guys should be in charge of making that decision at the end of the day, or or be you know, strongly influencing that decision.

I'd like to believe we have influence.

It's you guys plowing out there, so you guys knowing exactly how how the streets are.

So I mean, it it seems like that was one of the the you know feedback that we've all heard is that the parking ban uh potentially was lifted a little prematurely.

Uh so cars you know had to go back to work uh and they would start parking on streets uh that weren't necessarily plowed uh nowhere near curb to curb, and that kind of has just delayed or uh expanded uh the the con the difficulties of the storm and the following days.

So I'm in I'm in constant communication um with the people I report to and with the mayor um prior to a snowstorm, during a snowstorm, and after a snowstorm.

Um we provide the best advice um and I don't want to say influence, but we we provide the best information that we have as those decisions are made.

Once those decisions are made, it's up to us to execute.

And so um while we provide information, there's a lot of factors that go into those decisions.

Um, and I respect that, and I do respect the mayor for listening to us.

He does.

Um, but ultimately it it's it's it's not our decision.

It's it's our dis it's our obligation to follow the direction that we're given.

Fair.

Um question regarding uh vendor um size trucks, I guess you could say.

Uh when did when do you get that list of of approved vendors?

And you you said you reviewed it long before.

Yeah.

So so we go before the board of contracts and supply really as a matter of transparency because it's not strictly a bid process, it's just kind of like an invitation.

Hey, do you want to come plow for us?

And that is a uh a solicitation that goes out at the end of the summer or beginning of the fall.

Um, and then there's a whole process where they have to bring us their trucks.

Um part of our new process is when we inspect the trucks to make sure they're in good working order and and they're inspected and they're registered.

Um we we put together a uh, I guess a dossier on each truck.

We photograph the truck, each each vendor has their own folder.

So when they show up for a storm, we're comparing what the vendor brought to us that day with what they're showing up with for the storm to make sure they match.

Um and so we basically will take every plow we can get and did.

Um and that solicitation is open as we speak.

We keep it open for the entirety of the snow season and until we feel confident that it that it's springtime.

But we take we will take, I've had people uh approach us the day of a storm saying, Hey, I want to be a vendor, and we run them through that process to get them on the road with their plow.

So um, so building on that question, um did you have concerns going into the storm regarding um the quality or size?

I'm not sure what the the proper terminology of the horsepower you could say be behind uh the the vendor uh trucks, uh and I mean it uh well what can we do in in this regard going forward?

Like sure.

So did I have concern?

Absolutely.

Um it's a con it's an alarm that that Sal Solomon's been sounding uh for at least since I got here.

Um it's it's an issue.

It's not when I look back at the records of the kinds of trucks and the number of trucks that had been brought to us 20 years ago versus today, it's it's uh impressive.

Um and as I said last year, in an effort to make it more attractive to plow in the city of Providence.

We did increase the rates.

Um there is a bump that they can get for signing up early.

Um and so we we we do everything we can to really publicize that.

Uh we've used social media to our advantage this time around to get more people, but as I said, it's a challenging job.

These are trucks that generally are in use for the businesses that those vendors own, their their day jobs, if you will.

Um, and so they you know it's a it can be a sacrifice for them to subject those trucks to the to the real wear and tear and kind of beating that they'll take in plowing a city.

Um and so that it makes it difficult to attract.

But part of what I I we plan to do going forward to improve includes how do we how do we attract bigger trucks?

How do we get those vendors that we used to have?

Um, and how do we make it attractive for people to come here?

It's not just about money.

Money money stops being a motivator at some point.

Um and so we need to take a closer look at a better way to recruit and to recruit what we need.

Um going to our uh uh fleet, the city's fleet.

Uh I I know you mentioned and the mayor mentioned about additional uh plows being being purchased.

Um I mean, is it is it clear that we need to keep moving in that direction and and dramatically increase uh the the purchase orders in in that capacity?

Um I would say yes.

Um I think that you know the the six plows that we're gonna get is a really good start.

Um I also recognize that in every budget season there are there are decisions that have to be made um about where the money goes and and how much we can spend um on various initiatives.

There's a lot of important initiatives, there's a lot of important needs, and so I understand that.

Um, but but the the improvement of our fleet is something that I will continue to advocate for.

Thank you.

Um my last question for now is in terms of like scheduling.

Um you you mentioned to to my colleague that in a storm this uh big, there really is just uh a shift that starts.

Um it's all hands on deck.

What what what I mean what was like what's the strategy behind not starting uh at different times knowing uh because we all we all knew this was gonna be a 124 hour storm pretty much.

Um is the goal just to work everyone uh as as hard as possible from the start to it's just like where like where like if we don't know no backup is coming, like what's I can explain.

What's the plan?

So the the first part of any of the any of these operations is gonna be pre-treating, and so that's a smaller subset of our entire crew.

Um and so there's kind of levels, right?

So there's some storms that we can handle within DPW without calling in vendors, this the early storm with the two inches.

So we didn't call in vendors for that.

When we don't call in vendors, we don't call in inspectors, it's just a city operation.

Um there's there's union rules about when I call people in, I can't just call some and not all, depending on the type of job they do.

Um and generally in a large storm, certainly a storm of this magnitude, um, I need everybody.

And so we call everybody in.

As I said, there are opportunities for rest, and we do encourage them to take it.

Um it's impressive how long some of these guys are able to plow and able to function.

Um and and it's a sacrifice.

Um, but they do take pride in their work and they do take pride in in improving, you know, in providing a good service to the people of Providence.

A lot, a lot of my staff live in Providence.

Um, and so it's their community too.

Um but there are times when it has to be all hands um because of the kind of event that we're getting.

Um so did you like run into um times or or you know, aftermath of like the initial storm where you just didn't have anyone uh plowing, or was there someone or or people plowing, whether city or vendors uh from snowfall on Sunday until now Thursday, Friday, like there's there's no people plowing.

There's or there is there's there's people hauling snow, is there's still people plowing uh as we speak right now.

As of right now, we have our second shift um going to different areas, and then tonight we have our third shift um doing a lot of water areas, and tomorrow night we're all coming in to approach every single ward to make streets wider.

Wider.

So we have a full crew going in tomorrow at midnight.

Thank you.

Sure.

Thank you, Consulman.

Uh Consulwoman uh Davison.

Hi, thank you all so much for joining us.

Um yeah, actually that last response picks up in the question that I wish to ask, um, which is um I think that many of us have constituents who are still dealing with a very narrow street, unable to park, and really unable to maneuver two cars.

I mean, I myself had to back up in a very frightening manner blindly onto a street to allow somebody else to pass.

I think probably all of us have done that this week.

So this is a little example of sort of what's currently out there.

It's great to hear that there is still plowing, but I think that it would be very helpful for us to have a better sense of what we can expect from the plowing moving forward.

In other words, is the hope to continue to go until most streets are reasonably passable, which they are not currently, many of them.

And then I have a second question, and feel free to answer the first and then the second.

But the second is how can we and our constituents best communicate which streets those are?

We have all been urged to urge our constituents to use 311, and I think that they have been.

Um, and I just want to clarify is that the best way to get the information should we rely on the inspectors?

Like give us a little guidance about the moving forward from this particular storm.

Sure.

Um, so I'll answer your second question first and then your first question second, and then I'll give it to Sal.

Um so the best way is 311.

Um I know a lot of you have have Mr.

Solomon on speed dial, some of you have me on speed dial, other people in Snow Ops, um, which is great.

And and I think you find that we respond and we answer and and we do what you ask.

Um, but it it makes the information flow very unwieldy, very difficult to track, very difficult to, you know, if you're doing 10 other 10 other things with a storm, and then you gotta remember this text you got.

311 funnels things directly to our department in a way that makes it much easier to track and document and also report on after the fact.

I think you and I discussed this in our our first meeting that we had.

Um it it allows us to look back at the data and see, you know, is there a pattern, is there something that informs practice um out of this?

In terms of your first question, yes, we're gonna go until until it's clean and and we're satisfied.

I don't know if you want to add to that.

Well, as the director said, we try to balance out as far as you know, we don't want to destroy people's sidewalks or aprons in their driveway, but it's got to the point where I think that somewhat we're getting so many calls up.

The streets have to be widened.

So this is our plan for tomorrow night is to try to widen as possible can.

Uh most likely some sidewalks and aprons will be disturbed, but now at least we're gonna widen up the streets.

And we're gonna tuck in the corners at intersections.

Thank you.

I want to say welcome to uh women Peterson, Graves, Andrew Boys, and Consulwoman Ryan.

Thank you for coming after your finance meeting.

Talking about widening the street and talking about 311.

311 with these snowstorms not working.

I got complaints from people who called 311, and you know the first thing that people say, look, I'm paying taxes for the to the to to have a store removal.

Can you do something?

The answer from some employees from 311 was I do pay taxes too.

Uh it's not that I can do because I don't know where they are, I don't know how they do it.

So 311 doesn't work on this case.

My work to report a missing trash can, or maybe to report something that will be done like maybe in three months, but it's not working.

311 is not working.

I'm so sorry for the administration, it doesn't work.

So I think we have to do a different system.

And about white industry, that mistake isn't your director, because nobody give the order the second day, like Monday afternoon, let's wider the street.

Let's make it wider because people wouldn't out shower in the snow at that time.

If you wider the street, the snow will go into the sidewalk.

So we will have to shovel it out and make the pile.

But you can go outside to anywhere.

I can bring you to my wall tomorrow.

We can bring cops and everything so we can protect.

So I don't have to be afraid to walk my neighborhood.

We have from the sidewalk to the street, six feet of snow bank.

So if you can drop the plow at least 14 inches and go down the street, that's not going to block a driveway.

It's not going to go into the sidewalk or the people who's already clean it.

And that's the complaint that people having that they say it's not wide enough to park a car, and sometimes people have to back up, like the bosses, because they face each other to another car in the in our neighborhood.

And that's what's going on in our neighborhood.

So what we hear is looking for a solution.

And I'm sure every single console person is anxious to ask how we're going to fix this problem.

So if we're going to be white in the street, don't drop the plow all the way in.

Do a pilot program because we are used to do pilot programs in this city.

Try 14 inches in and go and do a little street, how that look that thing looks like.

If that looks fine for the people to get out without showeling, go for.

But we had to try.

You guys have to try.

Thank you.

Any other consul that has any questions?

Uh before before you, Consulman.

Uh Consul Person, go ahead.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Sorry.

Um, I apologize for being here a little bit late.

Um, I first and foremost, and I I'm sure that some of this was already addressed prior to my being here, but I want to thank you for the work that was done.

Um specifically you, Sal.

Um, thank you very much for answering a lot of my my questions and being very thorough with me when necessary.

Um my concern, uh, much like everybody else's, I'm sure, um, is specifically related to my ward, where we have many elderly that still live in their homes.

And had no ability, have no ability to take care of their sidewalks, barely have the ability to take care of their driveways.

Um, I think I had maybe five different phone calls um consecutively within the day of neighbors, um, elderly neighbors saying, I I've been homebound, I can't get to appointments.

Um, I've called my police, they can't help me.

I've called the fire department, they can't help me.

Can't get a side, I can't get my car out.

I need something.

And I think that this particular storm reminds us of all of the things that, while it reminded of us of all of the things that we still needed to do, um, I think that we are running at a detriment for these, specifically our elderly, the kids that are walking in the street, all those things are important too.

But my main concern was for those that really didn't have anywhere else to turn.

And they still don't.

And so we have an issue with um lingering sidewalks with heavy, heavy amounts of snow still on them in various parts of Wanscock.

Um, and my question is um, speaking to what you had said, Chair, about establishing pilots or ideas of what we can do.

Um, one of the things that is uh top of mind is to how to support our elderly.

We don't have a system in place to be able to get them.

And when they called 311 and the recommendations were call your police, call your fire, they were met with, we don't, we can't help you with any of that.

It's a liability.

Um luckily to the people that I was able to help, um, it was by the grace of some really great former students of mine that were just willing to be able to put a plow down.

Um, but not everybody has that luxury.

And I know that there's still neighbors still in those same neighborhoods that are having this issue.

So this is more of a peace of mind situation or more of like a thing to consider is that we have many, many neighbors that are still kind of in the situation that there's people can't access that sidewalk.

It's a week later.

Um if there is more snow coming, which I'm sure there will be between now and end of March, um, there should be some remedy to be able to support neighbors in this way.

And the thing that I think of most is that particular those those are the particular things that come to mind as we're kind of reflecting on all of this.

Um that's it for now.

Thank you.

Uh Consulwoman undermore.

Go ahead.

Thank you, Chairman.

Um, I have a few questions if that's okay.

Okay.

Um, and I have them on my phone, which is why I'm looking down.

I'm not like texting.

Um, I guess one very specific question.

Is there a plan to clean up the um the bike lanes?

And I know not everyone supports there being bike lanes in the city, and also couldn't probably questions whether or not people ride their bikes in the winter when they do, but two, in my neighborhood at least, people use the bike lanes if they have mobility challenges, like they're using a wheelchair or they're pushing a stroller.

And so a lot of those folks in wheelchairs or on strollers um are just in the middle of the street right now.

And so I haven't seen any of the bike lanes, um, at least in my neighborhood, get plowed, and I've seen a lot of people in wheelchairs and in strollers in the middle of the road.

Thank you, councilwoman.

I know um that you came in after.

I'm I'm not sure at what point in sorry, I was at finance.

No, no, no, no, no.

I'm not, I'm not.

It's okay.

I just wanted to.

I did go over um sort of a priority of of how we approach snow removal.

And so it always starts with the mains, the hills, the overpasses, hospital routes, and who's getting trash picked up the next day and the school route.

Um, and then we move on to the secondaries.

Um, and further down the list, as as you know, are the bike paths.

And then even within the bike paths, there's a priority for those bike paths that are adjacent to uh handicapped access to bus stops.

Um there's been a little bit of conversation between us and Riptor about who's responsible for that.

We're just we're just gonna do it, and then we'll work out later, you know, who's who's supposed to do it.

Um, some of the bike lanes are challenging because of the equipment we have, uh, especially the bike lanes with those delineators.

If I run a plow down there, I'm gonna wiped out, wipe out all those delineators, and that's not good for anyone.

Um, I do know that people use those bike lanes even in the winter time.

Um, and so they're not a priority, they're they're just not the highest priority.

Um, we are uh we do have a team, and Sal and I actually talked about this today, um, to address those bike lanes using that priority for those that are uh I don't want to say more important, but those you know, the the ones that are adjacent to those handicapped accessible areas, particularly for where the uh people are gonna wait for the bus.

Um, and so we're at the point now after the the height of the storm after the really dedicated cleanup that we've been doing, trying to get as much of this snow out of here so that we can do a little more effective cleanup because now we have a little more room to move.

Um, we are now at that prior point in that priority list for those bike lanes.

Chairman, is it okay to ask another question?

Um, I guess I have two others.

One is what is the partnership between you guys and PPSD?

Because a number of the schools, I have two schools in my ward, MLK and Nathan Bishop, and particularly MLK had some real challenges, and kids were waiting for their bus, like in the street, especially that intersection with Doyle and Camp.

Sure.

Um, and the sidewalks weren't cleared.

And so I was sending things to both PPSD and you guys, um, but it's still the it's little kids and they were in the street.

So um thank you for asking that.

So we um PPSD is responsible for their sidewalks and and such.

We do have um uh a good relationship with PPSD.

We've we've kind of established a new relationship with them when it comes to storms.

Um, and so we have contacts there that communicate with us pre-storm so that we're all on the same page and we know what the needs are.

Um I will tell you that when school opened up again on Tuesday, um, Richard Perello was deployed with a list of the drop-off areas, which we have in advance of you know, each school has a different system on where kids get dropped off and so forth, to make sure that those areas were as clear as they could be.

Um I know that he in if he wants to talk about what he did that day.

He's dying to talk to you, I can tell.

Yeah, um first the list that uh the director gave me.

Uh one of them was the bait school on Cassuit.

I went there, plowed the best I can.

The opening of the entrance of the school was wide open.

There was a big large amount of snow there.

Uh the vehicle I was in, I was doing the best I can pushing it, but I didn't want to cover the walks, sidewalk so the children can't walk to the school.

Uh your school on MLK.

I got an email that the elementary or kindergarten had to move the entrance to the other end because it was blocked.

I was there on that street, the side street behind it.

I forgot the name of it.

I pushed in as much as I can, and also not to cover the sidewalk because the children will be blocked walking the sidewalk.

So I approached about seven schools, couple in Ward 7 off of Plainfield Street, that new school they built.

There was like seven of them I went.

VZC VZ Street School, Ward 4, went there, opened that up.

That was wide open for the children.

So the schools that I did go to had accessibility for the buses for the parents to pick up the students and also for the students to walk on the sidewalks.

And we do have that open line of communication.

And so if there's schools that we missed or schools that have problems that you know, we need they they would tell us.

Chairman Cask, one final question.

Thank you, sir.

Um, speaking of open lines of communication, I wonder what um we could do in the future to have more communication between the administration and council during a situation like this.

My residents were putting things in 311 and not hearing anything back.

And so, as you guys know, they have our phones, they know where that we live.

People, I uh like I'm not exaggerating to say well over 200 calls and texts and emails from folks.

Um, and in good conscience, I couldn't keep telling people to put in 311 because they were telling me we're not hearing anything back, or the voicemail is full, or um, I reported at one point that the um people were telling me that the um map feature was down, and then I was told no it's not.

So I was like, okay, that's fine, whatever.

I'm just gonna extrash.

I'm sorry, but I did what I had to do.

So sorry about that.

But um, but not sorry, because my residents were asking me to do it.

But um, um, so like what and so when things like this happen, to stop making a joke of it, like folks will also turn to us.

And I think council could be a partner with the administration.

And my experience was it did not feel like a partnership.

It felt like people were calling us, asking us answers, and I was like, I have no idea what's going on.

I don't know where the trucks are, I don't know when they're coming back out, I don't know what's going on.

I will try and find out, I will like ask for information, I will let them know that the 311 is down in these various ways.

Um, but felt very much like I had no more information than anyone else, which might be fine, might be the plan, but um, it left us in a weird spot, and we can be helpful given that our constituents know to call us and you know know our how to find us and all those things.

Like, we can be a partner in that communications effort and hope that we can do that going forward because that didn't feel like what it was this time.

Yeah, just to if I could respond, um, certainly you all are welcome to reach out to me directly, and I know most of you do, and I'm happy to accommodate it.

Like, it's not, you know, sometimes people will say, 'I'm sorry to bother you, or sorry to call you on a I don't care.

Just call me, text me anytime.

It doesn't bother me.

Um, and when I can, you know, hopefully I can I am responsive.

Hopefully, you found that we're a responsive team.

Um, but in the in the throes of a storm like this, you know, we're we're we're we're juggling chainsaws, you know.

And so I think it would be helpful to have a dedicated community liaison or communications liaison to DPW, and that that is something that that we've talked about in years past for in other contexts.

Um and to the extent, you know, if there were issues with 311, um you know, you you should explore what those issues were.

They're not that they're not part of DPW, but um, yeah, I'm I'm I'm always in favor of over-communication where we can.

Um, and I think it it's been a challenge of resources.

But you should never be at home, sorry, but you should never be at home or dealing with a constituent saying, uh, I don't know what's going on and I don't know who to ask, and I don't know how to find it out.

That's that's when you should reach out to me.

Okay, these are my lay is my layers.

Doesn't cost you doesn't cost the city no money.

But the problem that we have is to conclude this meeting today, is I got a question for you.

There is any construction going on in the your office during this um the snowstorm.

Due to the snowstorm, no, but there's construction that was planned as part of the move to our building.

Um, one of the things, and it's supposed to begin in the next couple of weeks.

One of the things has to do with, for lack of a better term, hardening up the lobby.

Right now, our our building is accessible to pretty much anyone that wants to walk in.

So we need to provide with a better level of security and accountability for staff because it's a way, it's a way of knowing who's in the building and who's not, because it's kind of a big building.

Um, there are some accessibility issues that are being addressed.

There's going to be a ramp installed in the front to address that.

We are waiting patiently for an elevator that's going to be delivered, which will allow us to move a lot of our heavy traffic equipment uh in and out of the building.

It's more of like a service elevator.

Um there are some renovations that are being done to the director's office uh to provide better coordination with the director's assistant, uh, as well as an additional restroom.

According to the what happens with these snowstorm is was lack of planning.

Somebody didn't order to widen the street the next day.

What is your plan now to go back into the neighborhoods and start opening these three streets?

And I would recommend to do it like during daytime.

Even with Carson Street, go easy and slow, because if you do a nighttime and by any chance you leave a block of snow in a dryway, that poor constitution who's working three jobs to pay our salaries, and say even my salary and your salary won't be able to make it to work.

So we do, and and Sal wants to answer you as well.

We we do have uh operation now to the next step is to widen up the streets.

It is kind of a calculation that has to get done.

Do we do it in the day?

Do we do it at night?

And and to your point, you know, either way can present its own challenges.

Sometimes all it takes is one car on a street to really stymie a plow uh trying to trying to widen that street.

Um but he does have a crew that that is doing that.

There are no um renovations to my building that are being planned or executed uh as a result of this storm.

Um we have the the benefit of um a much cleaner, safer facility to work in, and I'm very grateful for that.

Um, and also some space that we're able to use for training and for break purposes for staff who are working those um ridiculous hours.

But those were in place uh before this storm, and so it's not been in response to the storm.

So, as far as the water in the street during the day.

Um we've tried that, it's very hot with all this traffic, and then after 3 30 to about 7 o'clock, we're actually gridlocked, so we're not getting nothing accomplished.

So we tried it.

Um I figured that if we come in at midnight, there'll be less cars on the road, and hopefully there'll be some cars on the street, but at least we're not gonna be gridlocked.

As we were um two days ago when we tried doing it, it didn't work out.

Myself alone, it took me from Allen's Avenue to get to Eliza Street almost an hour and five minutes.

We have the whole city on you guys.

We need a better job.

We need a better plan.

Like I say, it's not our first rodeo.

Maybe it's a first rodeo for your director.

Because it's not.

This is I've been here four years.

Um respectfully, it's not.

Um, and I agree that there are areas of improvement, and I'm looking forward to working with council to move those forward.

Um, but I cannot, I cannot say enough about the men and women of this department and how hard they have worked and how hard they continue to work.

Um, some of them unpaid for in 14-hour days.

Um, and so um I I really do want to work with council on ways to improve, um, but I can't ignore the level and and volume of expertise that I have sitting at this table with me, and I rely on them very heavily and they care about doing a good job.

The reason is because everybody's asking what kind of degree do you have.

Do you have an engineering degree is to work as a DPW director?

And I don't have the answer because I need to hire you.

The administration hire you.

So that question will be for the administration if you have the qualifications to do this job.

So if I could um I have a JD, a jurisdoctorate, I'm an attorney.

Um, I also have over 30 years of a managerial experience.

Something like the last five directors or within the last five directors of DPW have not had engineering degrees.

I am not an engineer.

I have a fantastic engineering division on which I rely.

I don't tell them how to be engineers.

I don't go into the sewer uh and do that work because that's Dave Mambrose uh division.

Um I rely on people's expertise and try to get the best work out of people that I can.

My prior position was managing the Department of Corrections.

Some people say the ACI.

It was a lot more than the ACI.

Um the Department of Corrections is a unified system in Rhode Island, which means we have the jail, they have the jail and prison, where most states have county jails, and then they just have to deal with the prison.

Um I dealt with 19,000 offenders going through that facility, uh, that jail facility on an annual basis.

I manage a budget of over 265 million dollars.

I supervised over 1,400 staff, 840 of whom were unified, uniformed, sworn personnel, uh, and 2700 inmates as well as 24,000 people on probation, parole, and home confinement.

Um I faced fires, hurricanes, blizzards, uh, and a global pandemic.

Uh and I'm proud of the fact that we had one of the lowest death rates and one of the highest vaccination rates in the country among corrections facilities.

I have hired people, I have disciplined people, and I have fired people.

Um I've had my life threatened in the context of that job.

And I've seen things that would give you nightmares, but I know how to manage and I know how to lead.

And when I was interviewed for this position, the mayor said to me, I don't expect you to drive a snowplow.

I expect you to lead.

And respectfully, I believe I've done that.

And I think that the response of the staff at DPW bears that out.

Okay, now you have over 200 people claiming because that's the size of the city we have.

Over 200,000 people that they need that they need your service and do a better job.

I understand.

I had the entire state of Rhode Island, and so I do understand that, and it's an obligation I take very, very seriously.

I love this job.

I love working with this team, and I love working in this city.

And so I take it very seriously.

Um, my obligations and my responsibilities, and I think I pass that message on to my staff as well.

Or last, what is your message to the community to the city tonight?

Because everybody's watching and they expecting a good answer.

I would say to them, thank you for the grace of the patience that many people have exhibited to us.

Um, and I would also commit to them that every operation, no matter how good it is, no matter how hard it works, can always do better.

And we commit to doing better.

Last, what gray you will give to this snowstorm job that we've been doing?

We're not done yet, and so I'm not ready to give a rating.

Okay, thank you very much for coming tonight and have a great night and back to work tomorrow.

Thank you all.

Motion to adjourn.

Second.

Thank you.

All in favor?

We got it.