The Valdez City Council held a work session on Tuesday, August 26, 2025, at 6:00 PM in the Council Chambers to discuss snow removal operations for the 2025-2026 season, a personnel request for an additional lead mechanic, and the 2026 Economic Development Department work plan. No formal votes were taken; the session served as a discussion and information-gathering meeting for the upcoming budget.
Thank you, Mayor Plumbing. Just to kick off, we're gonna start with public works for tonight. But just a recap of kind of what we've prepared based on what we heard at the at the council meeting was conversation regarding snow removal, kind of what were the triggers for snow removal and kind of what's the plan moving forward. There is an FTE request outstanding with uh for a mechanic. Um we'll talk a little bit about what that specific need is and kind of all shed some light onto the process uh internally with FTEs, and then just uh there's a brief kind of overview of what the major equipment is kind of embedded with the uh mechanic conversation. Uh there was also a request specific to public works to talk about water and sewer rates. We won't be talking about that tonight. That'll be part of the regular budget work sessions uh related to the utility fund. Just a reminder that that's when that conversation will occur. Uh, but so those are the the three main topics for tonight that we've got chambered up. Uh that's not to say that we can't answer any additional questions that you've got about public works. Um, we may just not necessarily have prepared presentation on those uh specific questions, but we can certainly answer anything you might have. Um so Director Whitty's got uh handful of slides, and he can kind of walk through them. Feel free to interject as you have questions. I'm John Whitty, Public Works Director. I'm gonna keep this fairly brief. I only have eight slides, and one of them is a title slide, the other is a question slide, so please stop me at any point. Uh we're gonna kick us off with snow removal operations. Uh triggers for action. Snow removal begins at four inches of accumulation, and uh if it's wet snow, it's between two and four inches of accumulation. Uh during heavy snow events, crews are called out as early as 2 a.m. They're usually on the street by 3, 3 30 a.m. And then uh they create a berm, snow uh snow berm in the middle of the road, crews remove the berms to snow dumps as soon as possible. Uh what this slide doesn't say is uh usually they have that all bermed up by about eight o'clock. So before before they come back to the shop and school start, uh that berm is created so cars can move. Clearing priorities. I guess and I would add to that that the 2026 goal of public works is to have roads passable by 8 a.m. That's the that's the obviously we can't control Mother Nature, but that's that's the intended objective. And clearing priorities, hospital routes, school and bus routes, city hall, fire and police, residential streets, and then sanding is applied as needed, conditions permitting, uh scar fire blades used during high winds for better traction. Uh while it's actively raining. We we will still use sand, but it is not as effective as we would like. Rain washes the sand away, and using scar fire blades during a rain event while it's actively raining, fills in the holes, the scrapes, and freezes, and we it's not effective either. We still sand. Uh we usually try to hit that right before school starts, but it is not as effective as we would like. We are looking at other options. Uh we have not found one yet. 2024, 2025 concerns and responses. Uh we had a delay with our contractor in Corbin Loop. We did not begin until there was already 10 inches of snowfall. There was about 11 inches of snowfall when the police called me, and I was able to get a hold of them, so I didn't know. I think that was your neighborhood, uh, council member. Uh the issue was addressed, and we did not have a repeat incident. And then during the winter we had freezing rain, uh sand was often iced over, washed away, led to reduce effectiveness despite frequent sanding. And we did sand every single day while it was raining. What's changing for 2025-2026? Uh, we're gonna have better contractor coordination. Our street foreman will call out the contractors at the same time as city crews during emergency events. Uh as many of you know, snow is different between in town and out of town. Uh, it may not be the trigger for the contractors to get started, but it's just gonna give them a heads up. Improved communication.