2026-10-21 - Special Committee on Ways and Means

00:00Hi everyone. Good afternoon. Uh late

00:02afternoon. My name is Miguel Sanchez.

00:04I'm calling uh the special committee on

00:06ways and means to order. It is Tuesday,

00:10October 20th at 5:34 p.m. Uh Madame

00:14Clerk, we do roll call.

00:16>> Chair Sanchez,

00:17>> present.

00:17>> Vice Chairman Taylor is absent.

00:19Councelor Davidson

00:21>> present.

00:21>> Councilwoman Graves is absent.

00:24Councilwoman Peterson.

00:25>> We have three present and two absent. We

00:27have a quorum.

00:28>> Thank you. I want to recognize uh

00:30councelor Vargas is with us here today.

00:33Uh we're waiting uh folks from the

00:36solicitor's office. Thank you folks from

00:38the clerk's office for being here

00:41of our city council staff members of the

00:45media. Thank you for also being here of

00:48course administration. Um, so at this

00:51time I'll come forward uh anyone that is

00:54uh paying to testify uh to get a sworn

00:57in. We will do it all at once. So

01:02>> please raise your hands. Will you swear

01:04under penalty of perjury that the

01:06testimony that you're about to give is

01:08the truth, the whole truth and the

01:09truth.

01:10>> I do.

01:11>> Please state your full name and title

01:12for the record.

01:16Richard F, deputy superintendent

01:18highway.

01:19>> Patricia Coin F director DPW South

01:23Highway Chief Oper.

01:30>> Thank you. Um before we begin, um I just

01:32wanted to give a quick little spiel. Um

01:35thank you everyone for making time to be

01:37here today. Um of course we are doing

01:40this uh in head ahead of the the winter.

01:44Uh we all got a lot of uh feedback from

01:48our neighbors that the city's response

01:51although we all understand it was

01:52historic uh snow levels and and

01:55temperatures uh we did not meet the

01:58expectations

02:00uh of our neighbors. Uh we want to make

02:02sure that we're as fully prepared as

02:05possible uh going into uh this upcoming

02:08winter um and using this space uh to

02:12identify any additional support uh that

02:15our city departments might need uh to

02:17start doing uh that now. Um so that

02:21being said, I will entertain a motion to

02:24enter exhibit one into the record.

02:28>> Second. Uh motion made by councelor

02:29Peterson, second by councelor Davidson.

02:31All those in favor? I. Any uh nays, any

02:35abstensions, any discussions? The eyes

02:37have it. Um so we'll start with item

02:40one. If um the clerk can read that into

02:43the record and anyone presenting on item

02:46one uh can can come out to the table.

02:49>> Discussion relative to snow preparation,

02:52planning and winter weather unified

02:54command. The following have been

02:55invited. Clara Derbo, director,

02:58Providence Emergency Management Agency.

03:09>> Ready when you are.

03:11>> Good evening everyone. Thank you for

03:13having me. I'm Far Serbo. I'm the

03:15director of Providence Emergency

03:16Management Agency and thank you for

03:18giving me an opportunity to run through

03:20some of the preparations that we've made

03:23for the upcoming winter storm season.

03:26Um, I've got a few slides and then if

03:28there's any questions, feel free to

03:30interject along the way or if you have

03:32any questions afterwards. So, first of

03:34all, I wanted to give a quick overview

03:36because I know it's been in the news a

03:37lot lately that we are in an El Nino

03:40cycle. So, just a quick refresher for

03:42anyone who is not quite as much of a

03:44weather nerd as I am. Uh, what an Elino

03:48means is that we have a shifted jetream,

03:50meaning that stronger southern storm

03:52tracks with more coastal moisture are

03:55likely to impact Rhode Island this

03:57winter. Um, one of the things that kind

03:59of gets thrown around in the media is

04:00this means we are going to have a quote

04:02unquote mild winter. That does not

04:04necessarily mean good things for us in

04:07terms of total impacts from storms. What

04:09this means with a milder winter is that

04:12temperatures tend to be a little bit

04:13warmer, which means the atmosphere can

04:15hold more moisture, which means we are

04:17more likely to have more rain, more

04:19wintry mix, more icing, and the

04:21potential for heavier, wetter snow. A

04:23colder winter actually means that we're

04:25likely to get less snow overall and have

04:28it be drier and lighter, which means

04:30it's easier to move. So, an El Nino

04:33winter. Um, if people are going to say

04:35it's going to be a mild winter, that

04:36does not necessarily mean we're going to

04:38get off easy in any way, shape, or form.

04:40The great ice storm of 98, if anyone

04:43remembers that, it caused about 40

04:44billion worth of do damage and that was

04:47an El Nino winter. So, as we prepare for

04:50this winter storm season in particular,

04:52I'm paying particular attention to the

04:54fact it is an El Nino likelihood for

04:57more rain, more icing, more winterry

04:59mix, and heavy wet snow. and that's

05:01impacting some of um how we are

05:03preparing for the season as well.

05:08>> All right. So, one of the first things

05:10that we do is as we're preparing for any

05:12winter storm season, this year is no

05:14different, is we have initial

05:16coordination and discussions with the

05:18National Weather Service. Uh they have

05:20given us some presentations, us being

05:22the emergency management directors for

05:23Rhode Island in southern New England

05:25about what El Nino means. um what the

05:28likely impacts are based on the existing

05:30weather trends and what we should be

05:32expecting. We also coordinate with the

05:34Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency

05:36in their pre-season preparations, what

05:38resources they have on hand. They check

05:41in with us about what preparations we're

05:42taking on the local level. So, those are

05:44all kind of standard pre-season

05:46preparations. Uh we have a annual winter

05:49storm season brief formally from the

05:51National Weather Service that is

05:53scheduled for November 4th this year. Uh

05:56that's when they go over kind of the

05:58large scale um meteorological trends and

06:02forecasting trends that they're

06:03expecting, if there's any changes based

06:05on jetream impacts that they're

06:07expecting. Uh and they also go over what

06:10any changes they've made to our winter

06:12storm products. We get different product

06:14packets that they're sent that they send

06:16in advance of any um major impact in

06:19storms and sometimes they make changes

06:21to threshold levels or products that

06:23they're pushing out. and it's an

06:24opportunity for us to give them feedback

06:26as well. That's scheduled for November

06:284th. We also hold an annual mayor's

06:31emergency advisory board tabletop

06:33exercise that is currently scheduled for

06:35this Friday, October 23rd. I typically

06:38hold that in either sometime before

06:40Thanksgiving. I want to make sure that

06:41it's done by um by the middle of

06:43November typically. This year, it'll be

06:45on this Friday. Like I said, as part of

06:49us preparing for an El Nino winter, the

06:51scenario that I have picked for the

06:53mayor's emergency advisory board

06:54tabletop is a little bit of a different

06:56scenario than what we did last year

06:58based on the expected potential

07:00conditions for this year. We do a storm

07:03prep checklist review. Yeah.

07:05>> Um so, so what exactly does that

07:07tabletop exercise look like?

07:09>> It typically lasts between 60 and 90

07:11minutes depending on the scenario and

07:14how many rounds we're going to do in it.

07:16And I actually have uh in a couple of

07:18slides what the key decision points are

07:19as part of the emergency advisory board

07:22meeting. So every emergency advisory

07:24board meeting has predetermined decision

07:27points that the mayor and the senior

07:28administration officials need to make

07:30regarding um storm preparations and

07:33action levels. Um the emergency advisory

07:36board tabletop exercise is held on Zoom.

07:39I present the forecast scenario. I

07:42actually send out for mock tabletop

07:44exercise forecasts a few days in advance

07:47just like I would in advance of a storm.

07:49And then for the exercise, we run

07:52through a knock um emergency advisory

07:56board call with a mayor having to make

07:58decisions based on input from department

08:00directors.

08:03And we do these at least twice a year.

08:05So we do one in preparation for

08:07hurricane season in the spring and we do

08:09at least one in the fall in preparation

08:11for wintertorm season. Sometimes we hold

08:13them for other major um incidents. We've

08:16done them for active threat before as

08:17well.

08:20All right. Um we PMO holds the a storm

08:24prep checklist. Uh those are things like

08:27making sure that our loginins for

08:29National Weather Service Slack channels

08:30are up to date, making sure that our web

08:32EOCC login are all set for this season.

08:35So we have a whole checklist that we go

08:37through to make sure that we have all

08:39the access that we need, the credentials

08:41that we need, the proper contact

08:43information. As part of that, we also

08:45update the contact information for the

08:47mayor's emergency advisory board contact

08:50list. Make sure everybody is current in

08:52that. And then when that is completed,

08:53we do an emergency advisory for the EAB

08:56comms test typically around November or

08:59December. And we use um the get WPS,

09:02which is an emergency um phone system,

09:05radio check, and code red check as well.

09:08Uh so those that's kind of the Puma list

09:11of things that we do in a standard year

09:13to prepare for wintertorm season. Any

09:16questions on any of these?

09:19All right. So the mayor's EAB um to your

09:22question about what the key decision

09:23points are there are presscripted

09:26agendas for these calls they're run in a

09:29very structured manner uh and the

09:32decision the major department directors

09:35present their department's preparations

09:37to the mayor and the senior staff and

09:40then there are key decision points that

09:41happen along the way. These are some of

09:43the major decision points involved in a

09:46winter storm scenario. We obviously have

09:48a there's some of the same decision

09:51points, but they're a little bit

09:52different for a hurricane scenario or

09:55another non weather related incident.

09:58So, what DPW assets are going to be

10:01allocated, the times they are going to

10:03start treating or plowing, how many

10:05vendors are going to be called in, and

10:07the status of DPW assets is one of the f

10:11first major decision points and

10:13discussion items during a winter storm

10:15EAB specifically.

10:17The treatment and plowing timing is

10:19really important. Um, and I'm sure the

10:22DPW director will get into this, but you

10:25have to have certain conditions in order

10:27to effectively treat or start plowing.

10:30If you don't have those weather

10:32conditions, then it doesn't make any

10:34sense to treat because it won't be

10:35effective. One of the particular items

10:38with a El Nino winter where we're likely

10:41to have storms that start as rain and

10:44transition into snow is that it makes

10:47treatment much more challenging uh and

10:49poses an additional challenge in that

10:51regard. Uh the toe band timing and

10:54whether we do a toe blitz and what time

10:56of the toe blitz is a decision point on

10:58the EAB.

10:59the park snow removal plan. So, how many

11:02park assets are being um activated to

11:04support the snow removal operations, rec

11:07center staff status, public safety

11:09staffing? Um are there going to be

11:11additional personnel activated for

11:13police, fire or telecoms to work in

11:15those departments, school closures and

11:18delays, city staffing levels, we have a

11:20tiered staffing s um level system for

11:23city staffing if there are any major

11:25events happening in the city. uh if

11:27there's PAC activated, the vets, things

11:30happening at the AMP, um all of those

11:32are discussed and taken into

11:34consideration as well. Um EOCC

11:37activation, the emergency operation

11:39center activation level and time and

11:41what departments are going to be

11:42represented at the EOC, whether we need

11:45to activate emergency shelters. One that

11:47I uh forgot to put up there is whether

11:49we need to declare a state of emergency

11:51on the local level is a decision point,

11:54311 hours and um extended operating days

11:57and then a communication plan. So all of

11:59these are major decisions that have to

12:01be determined on these calls. Typically

12:04the way it works is that department

12:06directors will make a recommendation and

12:08then we receive feedback either from

12:10other department directors, the chief of

12:11operations, the chief of staff and the

12:12mayor. And then ultimately the mayor at

12:15the end of the call approves the plan

12:18and then we proceed with communication

12:20and all of the department director's

12:21action on that plan.

12:24I know that's a lot of information very

12:26quickly. Any questions on that?

12:30All right. So I also wanted to give a

12:33little bit of an update um on the

12:35emergency operations center, what we do

12:37there for those who are not familiar

12:39with it um who staffs it, how all of

12:42that works. So the EOC is the central

12:43coordination facility during any major

12:46incident in the city of Providence. It

12:48is located at FEMA 591 Charles Street. I

12:51welcome any of you who have not already

12:53come seen our facility to come see it.

12:54We're very fortunate that we have the

12:57emergency operations center facilities

12:59that we do for the city and it is where

13:02we operationalize and coordinate the

13:05city's response to any major incident.

13:07Uh, it can be activated for anything

13:09from pre-planned events to major winter

13:12storms. Um, it was activated for the

13:15winter storms last winter as well.

13:18>> You said it was activated for the winter

13:20storm last year.

13:21>> Yep. For the January and the February

13:23blizzards.

13:25Um, EOCC activation criteria. These are

13:28some of the criteria. There is no hard

13:32and fast you must activate the EOC when

13:35written into any sort of policy or

13:38procedure. It can be at the discretion

13:41of the FIMO director, the chief of

13:44operations, the chief of staff and the

13:45mayor. So we activate typically for

13:48large pre-planned events, Pride, PBD

13:51Fest, Fourth of July. We do not have to

13:54activate at the PIMA location. for Pride

13:57and PBDFest, we activate from our

13:59alternate EOCC location. So, we're a

14:01little bit closer to downtown. But some

14:04of the criteria that we do take into

14:06consideration when when recommending an

14:08EOC activation is whether there are

14:10resources that might be required beyond

14:12local capabilities. So, if we're going

14:14to be or if we anticipate we might be

14:16requesting resources from the state or

14:19regional level, that would be a reason

14:21to activate the EOC. uh if the emergency

14:24is of long duration, if it's going to

14:25last longer than 12 to 24 hours and

14:28we're going to have to do prolonged

14:29operations, that will be a reason.

14:31Multiple agencies or jurisdictions

14:33involved if we're expecting mutual aid

14:35from some of our neighboring communities

14:37and need to coordinate those resources

14:39if there are unique or emerging

14:42problems. Um emergencies can be

14:44multiaceted and can have unexpected

14:47things pop up during them. And if we

14:49expect that that might become an issue,

14:52that would be a reason to have that. And

14:54a local or statewide emergency is

14:56declared. Typically, that is in there

14:58because if a local or statewide

15:00emergency is being declared, something

15:01bad is probably happening and at least

15:04one of the other fulle points is

15:05probably also being satisfied in that

15:08regard. Um, so we do pre-planned

15:11activations and then we also do

15:13emergency activations um during weather

15:16events.

15:17So uh for what would be some examples uh

15:21if there are any recent ones for

15:23pre-planned operations

15:26>> pride PBD Fest 4th of July are our big

15:28ones

15:30>> and is there any um I don't know the

15:33crossover or overlap is the right word

15:35with like law enforcement uh crime

15:40centers and

15:41>> um yes actually for PBD Fest we brand

15:46Unified Command out of um the

15:49colllocated with Realtime Crime Center.

15:56Um the EOC is staffed by we call it the

15:59ERP, the emergency response team. These

16:01are members of different city

16:03departments that have specific roles and

16:05responsibilities during an ESC

16:07activation. We are currently under an

16:09emergency support function model. We are

16:12going to be changing this in our next

16:13emergency operation plan update to a

16:15departmental model. If anyone wants to

16:17talk about emergency management policy

16:19and the nitty-gritty of this, I am happy

16:20to elaborate. But essentially, this just

16:22means that the departments that you see

16:26here in blue are going to be the primary

16:29representing departments and they will

16:31be covering multiple different roles and

16:32responsibilities in a way that better

16:34fits the realities of how our

16:37departments are structured on the local

16:39level. The emergency support function

16:40makes sense at the state level, but

16:42since we do not have things like a

16:44department of transportation on the

16:45local level, those roles and

16:47responsibilities kind of end up getting

16:49shuffled. So, this is just going to be a

16:51reorganization to more closely align

16:53with how the city department directors

16:56are or the departments are structured on

16:58the local level.

17:02All right. Our EOC activation levels are

17:05divided into four levels. Level zero is

17:08blue sky days. That's our normal day. Uh

17:11nothing much is going on. We are always

17:14in standby mode. So we have what is

17:15called a warm EOC. It means that all of

17:18our phones and computers are there all

17:22the time. So literally all you have to

17:24do is go in, turn on the projectors, and

17:25turn on the lights and you can run an

17:27EOC. Um that's called a warm EOC. A cool

17:30EOC or a cold EOC would be like this

17:33room. If it's a conference room, we

17:35would have to bring in phones, we would

17:37have to bring in laptops, and then you

17:39would have a lag time for activation.

17:40So, our EOC is a warm EOC. All we have

17:43to do is walk in and activate it. Level

17:45one is a watch state. So, that is what

17:48we do when there are things like um

17:51potential for flash flooding. other

17:54meetings and things that we have on our

17:56agenda kind of get shuffled off and we

17:57focus on the upcoming storm, but we're

18:00not necessarily pulling any departments

18:01physically into the emergency operations

18:03center. We're just shifting our schedule

18:05and our operational focus to be focusing

18:07on the weather event at hand. Level two

18:10is a limited activation. That is what we

18:13do the majority of the time. It means

18:14that we're pulling in some operational

18:16departments, but we're not filling every

18:18seat in the EOC. We're not filling We're

18:21not pulling in representatives of all of

18:23the departments, just the most relevant

18:25and pertinent ones. That's what we do

18:27the vast majority of the time. A level

18:30three operational status is full

18:32activation. We're running 24-hour work

18:34schedules. It's kind of an all hands-on

18:37deck uh situation that would require

18:40massive operational response. The last

18:42time we really did a what I would

18:44consider a level three is COVID um that

18:49was a whole city response but they

18:51weren't actually in the EOC due to um

18:54the restrictions related to the

18:55pandemic. The vast majority of our

18:57operations for EOC activations are going

18:59to be level two.

19:03We have during a level three so in all

19:05hands-on deco activation we have four

19:08shift alpha bravo delta and charlie.

19:10Each shift is 12 hours. You would do

19:12rotating 12 on, 12 off. We do have

19:15bunks, shower rooms, comfort facilities

19:17at Puma. So, individuals that are

19:19assigned to Alpha Bravo um Charlie and

19:21Delta shifts would be expected to stay

19:23at Puma for the duration of the

19:25incident. Um this is to reduce any risk

19:27to personnel in transiting to and from

19:30the EOC that might put them in danger

19:32during severe weather events and when we

19:35don't want people out on the road. We

19:38have two plans that we activate. One is

19:40the activation warning order and the

19:41other is the EOCC action plan. Um we

19:44also have the emergency operations plan,

19:46the EOP that is implemented during these

19:49disasters and a variety of other plans

19:52depending on the nature of the incident.

19:54Um in between each 12-h hour shift, we

19:57have what's called an EOC ops brief or

19:59an EOC turnover. That's essentially the

20:01EOC manager just giving a briefing and

20:04update on the last operational period to

20:05the incoming staff.

20:10So when we activate the emergency

20:11operations center, these are our primary

20:13goals and standing orders. Keep in mind

20:15that we can activate for non-standard

20:18incidents or non-standard events. And

20:20then our e the EOC's responsibility is

20:23to operationalize and implement the

20:25policy objectives from the mayor and his

20:28senior staff. So some of the primary

20:30goals during a typical major disaster,

20:33we're talking about a hurricane, an ice

20:34storm, a major winter storm, would be

20:37reestablishing communication, ensuring

20:40that there is um initial life safety,

20:42search and rescue is conducted and

20:45carried out, that we are meeting

20:46essential human needs. So food, water,

20:49medical access, shelter, power, um

20:52restoring critical infrastructure, power

20:54restoration comes under that category as

20:56well. One of our goals is to reopen

20:59schools and businesses as soon as

21:00possible. We know how critically

21:02important it is that kids are in school.

21:04So, one of the post disaster, one of the

21:07highest priorities is always going to be

21:10doing whatever is necessary to get kids

21:11back in school. Uh, and then facilitate

21:14facilitating coordination between any

21:16internal and external stakeholders. This

21:18can mean nonprofits, community based

21:20organizations, um, faith-based

21:22organizations on the local level. It can

21:24mean the National Guard, the CST, Rhode

21:27Island EMA, FEMA, any of the additional

21:30resources that might be coming in in the

21:32aftermath of a major response.

21:36Okay, those are all the slides that I

21:39prepared and I know I ran up through

21:40them fairly quickly, but any questions I

21:43can answer?

21:51>> Thank you. Um, thank you for this. This

21:54was really this was really expensive and

21:56what's really detailed and I appreciate

21:57knowing this. Um, if I can make one

22:01suggestion in this part, um, one of the

22:04things that we hear back at least I hear

22:05back from my constituents is that um,

22:09they would like we often don't get them

22:11as counselors. So we just want to be

22:12able where you envision that we can be

22:15the part of this

22:18scope.

22:21I think the communication of the

22:23intended operational plan would probably

22:25be a good fit for that. I know that in

22:28the aftermath of the January blizzard,

22:30we had received a lot of feedback on

22:33that and we tried to change some of the

22:34operational tempo during particularly

22:38the communication tempo during the

22:40February blizzard to kind of try to

22:43overcommunicate to the extent possible.

22:45also acknowledging that was a really

22:47extreme event for us, but trying to make

22:50sure that we were trying to provide

22:53information on a daily basis,

22:56particularly as the recovery dragged on

22:59for the the subsequent days. So, I think

23:03setting up a regular communication tempo

23:08um to council knowing that you all are a

23:11essential conduit for information out to

23:13our constituents.

23:14>> I appreciate it. Why don't you guys

23:16formalize that? Can you just let us

23:17know?

23:18>> Absolutely.

23:19>> Um before we go to council, I want to

23:21recognize counselor has joined us.

23:25>> I want to recognize you is here with us

23:28today.

23:31>> Yeah. So, this is very comprehensive and

23:35very awful. Um, can you sort of give us

23:38an overview whether or how this plan

23:41reflects any changes you may have made

23:44as a result of sort of the extreme

23:48conditions from last year?

23:52>> Um, or maybe there are.

23:56>> So, I wouldn't say that there's any

23:58necess exact changes. We're always

24:00refining how we're communicating, right?

24:03So even between the January blizzard and

24:05the February blizzard, there were

24:06changes in the communication tempo with

24:08council and how information was conveyed

24:10to council. Um so it's always an

24:13evolving process. We also kind of on a

24:17separate track, but we were also

24:19updating and changing some of our

24:20emergency communication and public

24:22communication alert and warning around

24:25code red and things like that. There's

24:27been um some overhauls of the 311 system

24:30in the last year or so. So, as we are

24:32evolving other components of whether

24:35it's emergency alert and warning or 311

24:38or comm's plans, we're kind of trying to

24:40make sure that you're incorporating that

24:42as appropriate along the way. Um, one of

24:44the things that has changed in recent

24:46years was the development of HHS as its

24:50own entity and having them participate

24:52on EAB calls to make sure that they're

24:54communicating with our um community

24:57service organizations as well. So as

25:00city government structure changes and as

25:02different components of communication

25:04for example changes, we try to make sure

25:06that that's updated and reflected in

25:09things like the EAB agenda that we're

25:12incorporating that and then in for like

25:15the communication during the February

25:18blizzard is a good example of making

25:20sure that communication out to council

25:23and to community members is kind of

25:25included as one of the action items to

25:28take way. Does that make sense?

25:30>> It does. Yeah. I mean, I know that a lot

25:32of this is, you know, including your

25:34professional experience and probably

25:36similar municipalities as well.

25:39>> Um, but, you know, I think obviously

25:41last year must have provided a lot of

25:43learning opportunities.

25:44>> Yeah. And I think one of the important

25:46things to take away from last year is it

25:48was a very non-standard year, right?

25:50Like we broke the blizzard of 78. Um,

25:52one of the things that we had come into

25:55play in the February blizzard that we

25:58rarely have happen is an EMAC response.

26:01So, EMAC, EMAC is the emergency

26:03management um, compact. So, what that

26:06means is essentially it's mutual aid for

26:08emergency management resources from

26:10other states. So, that's where we had

26:12plows and trucks and major snow removal

26:14coming in from Pennsylvania and Vermont

26:17and all around. We had lots of resources

26:19coming in that have been requested by

26:22Rhode Island Emergency Management

26:23Agency. It takes between 24 and 72 hours

26:26for those resources to typically get to

26:29a location. But once they arrive,

26:32tasking them out and managing that

26:35element of that response is a piece that

26:38we don't do very often because we just

26:40simply don't have dis not going to put

26:43uh we don't have disasters very often

26:45that require EMAC resources. So I think

26:47that's one of the things that and we've

26:49had this conversation with Rhode Island

26:51EMA as well as getting the locals a

26:54little bit more up to speed on how EMAC

26:56works in terms of implementing you

26:59effective utilization of those resources

27:00when they come in. It's just something

27:02we don't do very often. I think speaking

27:05professionally from my experience I

27:06think we did a pretty good job in

27:08Providence of utilizing EMAC resources

27:11when they got here. One of the things we

27:13probably could have done a little bit

27:14better is communicating to our community

27:16members what that time frame is like of

27:20saying we've kind of we have more

27:23resources coming. This is how it's

27:25coming. It literally is going to take

27:27them a day to get here from Pennsylvania

27:30and then you're going to see these other

27:32resources hitting the streets. So I

27:34think that would be uh an area probably

27:36for future improvement is to communicate

27:38a little bit clearer about how those

27:40resources are coming in and what the

27:41time frame is on for that.

27:43>> Yeah. I may follow

27:45>> um I have I think we all may have a lot

27:48of questions around communication. I'm

27:50going to put that to the side for now

27:51and ask some specific question about

27:53whether Providence participates in any

27:56uh intermunicipal

27:58within Rhode Island sort of sharing of

28:01resources or is it sort of every

28:03municipality is on top?

28:05>> So, we do that a lot on a regular basis.

28:07Um, one of the departments that probably

28:09does that the most is the fire

28:11department. They have very active mutual

28:13aid agreements and that's why you'll see

28:15any taken application to this situation.

28:18So we actually used mutual aid rescues

28:20during this. There were state police

28:22resources that were coming in. Um there

28:24were do state plows that were plowing

28:28not state streets um that were plowing

28:30city streets at various points just

28:32based on where resources were needed. So

28:35I would say it was very active during

28:37this. Um and then afterwards once there

28:42were out of state resources coming in

28:44those were being aortioned and kind of

28:47assigned out based on needs as well.

28:51Providence got a huge a huge portion of

28:54the statewide resources in that

28:55aftermath.

28:57Um, but yeah, I would say the mutual aid

28:59pieces like typically

29:01we aren't getting like mutual aid plows

29:03in per se, but in this case for the

29:07historic blizzard, we definitely had a

29:08lot of um DOT plows at least that were

29:11coming in.

29:17>> Um,

29:20see my question. So

29:24during last year's storm or this year's

29:26storm, pardon me. Um the storm from this

29:29the winter um one of the things that um

29:33often came up was that and maybe it

29:35wasn't just in conjunction with the

29:37storm but also the ground shooting.

29:39There was information in 31 but then

29:41there was also information in a

29:43different um I can't remember what the

29:46name is and I should because

29:48>> code red

29:48>> code red. Thank you very

29:52>> I won't tell Mark.

29:54>> Um

29:56when

29:58do we interchange the use of them now or

30:02and when is the information in one

30:05versus another or is it both? because we

30:08did uh at least I did a little bit of a

30:11campaign to tell my neighbors to sign up

30:13for code red, but I don't actually know

30:15when code red is going to be used versus

30:18311. And I think that's actually a

30:20really important um differential that we

30:22need to bring up because if you could

30:25explain at what point you do that versus

30:27311.

30:28>> So I'm happy to elaborate that. And we

30:30actually in the last year have updated

30:32our protocols regarding um when we send

30:36different types of messages in different

30:37platforms based on feedback that we've

30:39received um in the last year and a bit

30:43from some of the incidents that have

30:44happened at the Port of Providence. Um

30:46and we're kind of in the middle of

30:48making that change unfortunately when

30:49the Brown incident happened. So, where

30:52we're at now is that we use 311 for kind

30:55of routine communication about there's

30:59yard waste delay, the pools are open,

31:02early voting is open. Um, communication

31:05regarding kind of city operations, uh,

31:08there's a parking ban happening, there's

31:10a parking ban lifted. Those kind of

31:12communications are going to be 311. Code

31:14red is for emergency communications. The

31:17old protocol used to be that we had 311

31:22communication or we had 311

31:24communications for routine

31:25communication. We would only send a code

31:27red if we needed the public to take

31:29action. Well, the feedback we got after

31:31some of the fires in the port

31:33specifically. I didn't send a code red

31:36and I didn't recommend that we send a

31:37code red in that incident because we had

31:39fire department on scene. We had DEM on

31:41scene. They were doing hazmat air

31:43monitoring. We didn't need the public to

31:45take any action.

31:46But what we heard in feedback was there

31:48was a giant cloom of smoke in the Port

31:49of Providence and people didn't know

31:51that we were doing air monitoring and

31:53they didn't need to worry about um air

31:56safety in that regard. So now if there's

31:59a major incident that is requiring a

32:01significant law enforcement response or

32:03a significant police response or a fire

32:06response, even if we do not need the

32:08public to take any action, we will now

32:10send a code red. The third tier of this

32:13is a wireless emergency alert system, a

32:16WEIA alert. So with code red and with

32:18311, you have to opt in. Uh that is why

32:22we always request that council folk help

32:24us spread the word and get people to

32:25sign up for code red. Code red I have

32:27the ability to send on the local level.

32:29It is only going to notify cell phones

32:31that opt in that sign up for it. You

32:34also have to sign up with a specific

32:37location and then you are going to be

32:39alerted based on the geographic point

32:41that you put in when you sign up. So it

32:43could be your workplace, your kids

32:45school, your home address, city hall,

32:47whatever it is, but you have to put in

32:49your work your address in there. With a

32:51wireless emergency alert, the way that

32:53works is the state has to send it. we

32:56can request it and then the state will

32:57author a authorize it and issue it. But

32:59we do not have the ability on the local

33:01level to issue a wireless emergency

33:03alert. A WEIA alert goes based on cell

33:05towers. So every cell phone that is

33:08turned on and has not deactivated their

33:10emergency alerts within a cell tower

33:12network is going to get that emergency

33:15alert. So, if you have registered your

33:18address, you live in Cranston, you've

33:20signed up for Code Red, your address is

33:21in Cranston, you physically are in

33:24Providence for the day and we send a

33:25wireless emergency alert, you will get

33:28that alert. If you have signed up for

33:30code red with your address in Cranston

33:31and I send a code red alert for

33:33Providence, you are not going to get it.

33:34Even if your phone is located here, um,

33:37that's a really important distinction in

33:39determining when we send a code red

33:41versus when I request a wireless

33:43emergency alert. One of the additional

33:45components with a wireless emergency

33:47alert is that after the Brown incident,

33:49one of the questions we had gotten was

33:51why didn't you send an like everybody

33:53needed to know why didn't you send this

33:55alert? At the time there was no option

33:57to send a silent wireless emergency

33:59alert and if any of you have ever gotten

34:01it, it sets off your phone loudly. Um it

34:04sets off every single phone. So, at the

34:07time, this incident, the the situation

34:10that we had during the Brown shooting,

34:12we thought the asalent was still on

34:14campus. We had over a thousand students

34:16hiding and law enforcement was clearing

34:19room by room, building by building,

34:20thinking that the asalent was still on

34:22campus. And if we had activated a

34:24wireless emergency alert, we had

34:26students hiding all over. It would have

34:28not it would have set off every single

34:29cell phone. Uh, and for all of you who

34:31have attended my active threat class

34:34training, one of the things you do is

34:35you silence your phone. We teach

34:36everybody to silence your phone

34:37immediately, but a wireless emergency

34:40alert overrides that. The FA, the FCC

34:43has actually issued a new, and this is a

34:45nationwide thing that they're rolling

34:46out to be able to select a silent

34:48wireless emergency alert for exactly

34:50that situation. So, it was not in place

34:53in December 2025. It is now being rolled

34:57out. So now we will have the option of

34:59doing a silent wireless emergency alert

35:01which would hit every cell phone and it

35:04wouldn't do an audible alarm. I know

35:06that was a lot of information about

35:08emergency. Sorry.

35:11>> Recognize Daniel from our

35:19>> is

35:22um is there a way to be a silent one to

35:28let people know that they should

35:31>> or something?

35:34>> Yeah. I mean the thing that we have is

35:37that we have um

35:39>> a lot of our neighbors especially our

35:41seniors that don't necessarily know how

35:43to do that right and so if there's the

35:46capability of us to do a silent ones

35:48that allow them to do that um so that

35:50they can be prepared or maybe at a 311

35:53level can we do something along those

35:55lines. So, so we always push out sign up

35:58for code red every single preparedness

36:01um presentation

36:02>> text message into the phone.

36:03>> We could get 311 to send that. Um but

36:06>> but they have to be signed up with 311.

36:07>> But they would have to be signed up with

36:08311. So we could totally do that. Um

36:10Rema's never going to authorize a silent

36:12WEIA to get people to sign up for code

36:14red. They are very very strict on what

36:16gets sent as a WEIA because people get

36:18very mad about we alerts. Even when it's

36:21a tornado warning, people get mad about

36:22it.

36:27sort of like a followup question.

36:29>> Do you have this information documented

36:33in a way that you could share with us

36:36and that we could do the work that we

36:38would do to share with our constituents?

36:40>> Absolutely.

36:41>> That I think

36:42>> so it's our public alert and warning

36:44plan.

36:44>> Yeah.

36:44>> For the city.

36:45>> Yeah.

36:46>> Um I I I think as much of that we could

36:50do as possible.

36:52We we are not reliable to share with

36:54everybody, but we'll share we can and

36:57then we can collectively think more

37:00broadly about the city's communication

37:02systems and what the city and the

37:04administration be doing to get people

37:08get people ready for

37:11>> Yeah. And we did a press release with a

37:14with per code red. Um, we take every

37:17opportunity we can. So, I always have an

37:20open offer to any counselors to come

37:22speak to any of your neighborhood um,

37:25meetings. I we've already got one on the

37:27count calendar. Um, and there are two

37:30things that I always plug. One is

37:31signing up for 311 and code red and the

37:33other one is signing up for the Rhode

37:34Island special needs registry

37:36particularly for our older residents or

37:38those with access and functional needs.

37:40So, um, Risner, Code Red, and 311 are

37:43what we push everyone to sign up for

37:45constantly. So, whatever we can help do

37:47to support um engaging the all of our

37:50constituents and getting signed up, that

37:51would be fantastic.

37:53>> Um, a question

37:55director. Has there ever been any

37:57collaboration with our senior services

38:00departments?

38:03>> About both getting them signed up for

38:05code red and then specifically Risyner

38:07as well for I've worked a lot with Sue

38:10and with Lisa. We've got some senior

38:12preparedness bingo dates coming up. So,

38:14um, we include that in all of those

38:16those interactions as well. We were

38:18there at mayor's day in the city and I

38:20gave out a bunch of code red stuff. Then

38:24>> councelor uh, councelor.

38:29>> Thank you chair. The question is like

38:33when we before last year we got a lot of

38:36uh

38:38clothes

38:41I have a little issue in B Street

38:45comes down the park and always hitting

38:49the bridge and start come back and go to

38:52the street and go into the into the

38:55people's basement.

38:58I noticed that that your crew has been

39:01there when they cross the stream over

39:05get there first time and they try to try

39:08to open the the man horse to release the

39:11water and then your crew comes yes to

39:14black street but I'm looking for a

39:16solution and I don't see anything from

39:19your department saying

39:22this is what's going on and we can fix

39:23it this way.

39:25Is anything that you department report

39:29to different departments how we can fix

39:31this problem?

39:32>> So there's a lot of multi- departmental

39:34work that's happening right now

39:35regarding storm water management. The

39:37primary departments involved in that are

39:39obviously DPW with sewer and engineering

39:42sustainability um director de la Cruz

39:45and Puma are all working on a lot of

39:48different projects regarding that. We

39:50have some grant funding that we have um

39:53weekly meetings on actually trying to

39:55work on the bigger picture of storm

39:57water infrastructure

39:59um kind of across the whole city. Uh

40:01director de la Cruz has been leading a

40:03wonderful event um program trying to

40:05work on storm water infrastructure. The

40:07DPW teams have done a fantastic job with

40:10some of their um dredging in certain

40:13places and remediation and others. Uh so

40:16it's um I would say a ongoing and high

40:20priority for multiple departments to be

40:23working. Valley Street is obviously one

40:24of our areas of concern. The whole only

40:27the whole Onlyville area, the

40:28Woskatucket River corridor, West River.

40:32So we have a lot of very floodprone

40:35areas in the city and that's why we're

40:37taking kind of a comprehensive

40:38multi-depart approach to trying to

40:40address that. Um, but that's actually

40:42the topic that we're going to speaking

40:45um at Councilwoman uh Peterson's uh

40:48community meeting a little while is

40:50about uh addressing the storm water

40:52challenges in the city.

40:55>> Thank you. The issue that we have in Bry

40:57is that who has the

41:02like the the power to call Bay

41:05Commission and start paying those

41:07members because only half is owned by

41:11them plus is owned by Nar Commission and

41:16you call them and they say we'll do it

41:18but they're not doing it. Those meals

41:21they they need to be clean at least four

41:24times a year and they only doing it once

41:26a year like that's where your department

41:29comes and send a letter to them and say

41:31look you this all this belongs to you if

41:34not we will have to figure out something

41:37else we will clean it you and send you

41:40the bill let's see they like that's

41:43behind

41:44>> because DP is doing a great job trying

41:46to clean all that we own but not

41:51I defer to be DPW on that um for sewer

41:55maintenance. Um but we could certainly

41:57bring it up and discuss it.

41:59>> Thank you.

42:02>> Uh thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

42:05Thank you, the regular ser uh

42:10and thanks for uh your support in the

42:12community, your department coming out

42:14and trying to provide information to us

42:17over the years. Um and uh wanted to

42:20highlight that. Um you had indicated

42:22that um the code red and 311 it's an

42:26optin program

42:28>> even for code red too.

42:30>> Yes.

42:30>> Uh do you know uh how many residents are

42:35signed up on each uh platform that uh

42:38that receive or potentially are

42:40receiving these? Uh

42:42>> I don't know I don't know the 311 number

42:44off the top of my head. That's neuralis

42:46department but we could get that number.

42:47Um for code red it is currently about

42:5015,000

42:51>> 15,000 and those are residents city

42:56because that's who we

42:57>> have the domain from.

43:00>> And so um

43:04the other as I uh came in was that um in

43:08terms of communication and getting that

43:10information out um there's a an advisory

43:15group that's that's made up of different

43:19entities that I just saw there. Um is is

43:23the uh city council um representative in

43:26in in that advisory and is that um

43:30usually if there's a uh a recommendation

43:34to have the city council representative

43:37in that advisory council. So the uh just

43:41to differentiate there's the Providence

43:42Emergency Management Advisory Council

43:44and there's the mayor's emergency

43:46advisory board. So there is city council

43:48representation on the Providence

43:50Emergency Management Advisory Council or

43:53a committee PAMAC. There is city council

43:55represent representative on that one

43:57already. There always has been. There's

43:59a seat designated for city council on

44:00that. On the mayor's emergency advisory

44:03board, there has not been a

44:06representative of city council on that.

44:08It's composed of the mayor and his

44:10department directors. Um I would defer

44:13to the mayor um as the elected official

44:16running that on is included in the

44:19roster. And I've been at PEMA I've been

44:21with the city for almost nine years. I

44:23will say in the course of that time who

44:27has sat on the emergency advisory board

44:29has shifted in terms of department

44:31directors. we varied between about 16

44:34people and about 40 people um depending

44:37on the administration's preferences at

44:40the time. So the number of people on the

44:41emergency advisory board and which

44:43departments are represented has shifted

44:45over time.

44:46>> Uh that representation uh in REMA is

44:49that a staff person or city council

44:52person

44:52>> on PMAC

44:53>> on PA?

44:54>> It's a staff person.

44:54>> It's a staff person. Um

44:57uh and I also indicate see here that the

45:00reestablishing that communication with

45:02notification when the smoke don't take

45:05place or any emergency. Um

45:09obviously has been identified that it

45:11needs to be better. Uh is there in your

45:14department uh any design or staff person

45:18that deals with the communication or is

45:20that left to the administration to or

45:24311 system

45:26or your advisory group or whoever it is?

45:28Can you expand on that? How does that

45:31information get shared?

45:33>> So I would there's two definitions for

45:35communication here. There's a

45:36communication system. So like the

45:37infrastructure of cell towers and being

45:39able to make a phone call um like the

45:43the line the phone lines being down,

45:45internet being down. So that's one one

45:49piece of the communication that falls

45:50under the infrastructure piece of that.

45:52So in that regard, it belongs to

45:55depending on the nature of it,

45:57telecommunications and Providence EMA.

45:59Uh and then potentially working with

46:01things like Rhode Island Energy, right?

46:03Because if your power is out, your

46:05internet's going to be out. So the

46:07infrastructure component of

46:09communication is kind of a shared

46:10responsibility in that regard. The

46:13communication meaning public information

46:16piece of that that belongs the lead on

46:18that is going to be the mayor's

46:20communication department and the

46:22director of communication along with 311

46:26our public safety public information

46:28officer and that kind of public

46:30information side. So the infrastructure

46:32side is really key telecoms and then

46:34private sector entities who AT&T,

46:37Verizon, wireless etc. Um the comm's

46:40piece of it, public information piece of

46:42it is led by this this um city

46:45communications department uh and the

46:47mayor's director of communication. So

46:49there's always room for improvement in

46:50communication. That's one of the

46:51perennial uh every single disaster

46:54there's room for communication and we do

46:56get better over time. We do change

46:58things based on circumstances like the

47:00upgrades to the code red system, the

47:02changes to 311 system, but there's

47:04always room for improvement.

47:07Uh, and no, we don't have a single

47:08individual task with that because my

47:10staff is small enough that uh we we all

47:12have to multi hat. So, um, we all

47:15coordinate on that.

47:17>> Question

47:18question. Um,

47:21are you guys another person?

47:25>> Not at this time.

47:29So you saying there's only four how many

47:32staff people you have four

47:35>> four emergency managers and one admin

47:36assistant

47:37>> one emergency assistant and uh um so you

47:42you rely on the direct communication

47:44with the administration and their

47:46communication folks to get that

47:47information

47:50>> thank you

47:54questions

47:56Um the last uh topic uh director that we

48:00haven't touched on I just want to get

48:01your point of view is um in the cases of

48:05extreme weather uh when it comes to um

48:09relocating or or I don't know what

48:11relocating is worried about but

48:13sheltering or providing sheltering

48:16on housers. uh what's your department's

48:21uh involvement in those efforts or uh

48:24professional

48:26guidance when it comes to that? So for

48:30that, it's a joint effort between HHS,

48:33Director Freeman's office and um Dennis

48:36on her team who's working directly with

48:38our unhoused um social service

48:41organizations and Puma. When we have

48:43either extreme cold, extreme weather,

48:46severe storms coming, we reach out to

48:48our social service organizations,

48:51Providence Rescue Mission, Emanuel

48:52House, Crossroads, the Council of

48:54Churches um in advance, say this is the

48:57forecast, this is the timing that we are

48:59expecting. We provide water to them to

49:01activate as a cooling or a warming

49:03center depending on the circumstances.

49:05Um we make we check on how many beds

49:07they have available, if they have any

49:09particular facility needs that are

49:11unmet. We provided hand sanitizer,

49:14cleaning materials to them before if

49:15needed. Um we pretty much always provide

49:18water. I said spend a not insignificant

49:21portion of my life hauling water around.

49:23Um and in that way we're trying to

49:25support their operation. One of the

49:27things we do check is on their bed

49:28capacity, if they have any facility

49:30changes that impact their bed counts um

49:33and what their status is for that. Then

49:36we also communicate particularly during

49:38periods of extreme heat and extreme

49:40cold. We we make sure that our website

49:43is updated. We're pushing communications

49:45out. It's typically a press release,

49:47particularly for extreme heat or extreme

49:49cold, letting everybody know where the

49:51locations are, what the hours are going

49:53to be, um if they're going to 24-hour

49:56operations versus just um daytime or

49:58nighttime operations depending on the

49:59location. And then I also share that

50:02information out with all of our police,

50:03fire, and our hospital emergency rooms.

50:06Um, one of the things that we know

50:08happens is some individuals seek shelter

50:10at the hospital and they can be waiting

50:13in the waiting room, not actually

50:15needing medical care, but needing a safe

50:16place to be. And so we make sure that

50:19the hospitals know where the warming and

50:22the cooling centers are. Our police and

50:24fire also will actively and our um

50:27outreach organizations will be actively

50:29in advance of a weather event going out

50:31to encampments to areas that they know.

50:34Uh folks experiencing um homelessness

50:37are going to be in and providing them

50:40notification of this is the weather

50:42we're expecting. These are the places

50:43you can go. Trying to make sure that we

50:46get everybody in who needs it during um

50:48extreme weather conditions.

50:52Um any other questions for

50:56council council?

50:58>> Uh two two questions. Um in reference to

51:01storm water and as you described it

51:04earlier um because they're all coming

51:06together. Is there uh we're expecting

51:09any reports from that um analysis or or

51:14review of the impact that we've been

51:16having and the forecasted um storm

51:19water? um management and and also

51:23reaction by cities and in town and also

51:26with the state. Is there any form of

51:29>> I would have to double check with

51:30director de la Cruz on the status of

51:31that. She's been uh the lead on that for

51:33a little while. So I just have to check

51:35with her on what the reportings would

51:37look like for that.

51:40>> Thank you.

51:45>> Thank you so much.

51:47>> Thank you very much. Hey,

51:49>> um I don't know if I said it at the

51:50beginning of the meeting, but this is

51:51one of three uh pre-planned meetings

51:54regarding this topic. Um the next

51:57meeting um we're going to deal with

51:59public property, parks, and our housing

52:01department. And third one is to be the

52:04ceremony.

52:06Um folks from DPW

52:10uh this motion to enter two into the

52:13record.

52:15Motion made by Council Peterson. Sec.

52:20Anyions?

52:21Any

52:23discussion?

52:28Item two into the record. Discussion

52:30relative to snow operations planning

52:33including public right of way staffing

52:35status and equipment and material

52:36status.

52:39>> The columns have been invited Patricia

52:40Co, director of department of public

52:43work.

52:47>> How are you?

52:48>> I'm well. How are you, Mr. Chair?

52:53>> It's been a long day.

52:54>> Sorry. Um, thanks for having us. I'm

52:57here with uh our highway superintendent

53:00South Solomon and Deputy Superintendent

53:03Rich Carella um to talk about our snow

53:06prep and snow ops sorry um plans for the

53:10the upcoming season.

53:13Uh and so I'll jump right in. My my

53:18slides are um not as uh uh Yeah, that's

53:23>> Here we go. So, here's what I plan to

53:25talk about. Um, our just our process,

53:27just our snow planning uh process, what

53:30it looks like when we get snow

53:31predicted. Uh, then I'm going to hit on

53:34Thank you. Then I'm going to hit on some

53:35of our um the important pieces of that

53:38operation, our resources. So, in terms

53:40of staff, our vehicles, numbers of

53:42vehicles, and so forth, and the

53:44materials that we have. And then I will

53:46talk a little bit about some

53:47improvements, not not only the ones that

53:50we've been doing. It's continuous

53:52quality improvement. And I think I've

53:53mentioned at other hearings that after

53:55every single weather event, we gather

53:58the teams together when it's done um and

54:01talk about we do like a what we call a

54:03hot wash. What what went well, what

54:05didn't go well, what do we need to do

54:07better, what do we need to change, and

54:08so forth. So that's always going on. But

54:11certainly with the the fund we had last

54:13winter, um we've we've spent um some

54:17significant amount of time looking at

54:18improvements for the upcoming season.

54:21Um, this is what we normally call the

54:23off season um during the summer and the

54:25fall. And it's not a time when we put

54:28our feet up and and say, "Well, thank

54:30God that's over." And and and just cross

54:32our fingers for the next one. We spend

54:34this this period of time really looking

54:36at our processes and our resources and

54:39um making sure that we're ready. Uh and

54:41I feel confident that the department is

54:44ready for what um will inevitably come

54:46in this next winter. Um,

54:50so let's dive right in.

54:55>> There you go. Um, so we are also, um, as

55:00director, uh, Servo said, we're we're

55:02kind of weather nerds at BPW. We're

55:04frustrated meteorologists, so we're

55:06constantly monitoring a various number

55:10uh, a broad number of forecast um,

55:14machines. Uh we we all have our own apps

55:17that we like, but we all are are you

55:19know there's a buzz all the time in the

55:21winter about what weather is coming and

55:23who's saying how much we're going to get

55:25and so forth. So we're and we're all in

55:27constant communication on that. Uh we do

55:29participate in the EAB calls um as uh

55:33director Servos stated and we help

55:36advise on uh questions such as should

55:40there be a parking ban, should school be

55:42cancelled, um should the city be closed,

55:45um and so forth. Um in terms of parking

55:48ban, we were uh integral to a to a

55:51system that provided parking options uh

55:53in various wards to residents near

55:55parks. um generally near parks when

55:58there is a parking ban. Um and that is

56:02um one of the lessons we learned that

56:04there needs to be more of that. And so

56:06that is something that I had tasked our

56:08curbside administrator to look at in the

56:10offseason, if you will, um for more

56:13opportunities uh for residents to park

56:16when there's a parking ban. Um and so

56:18that is a project that is that is in her

56:20purview right now. Um, we also look at

56:24things like timing, uh, timing of staff,

56:26when should staff be coming in, what

56:28staff need to come in, um, when are we

56:31going to start pre-treating, if we can

56:32pre-treat, and when they, um, when will

56:36staff report? We use a system called

56:38Onsolve. I think it used to also be

56:40called Code Red. It's we've been through

56:42a couple of different vendors. Um that's

56:44an automated system that we use to

56:46notify staff and vendors when and where

56:49to report for an upcoming weather event.

56:52Um and it works very well.

56:54>> Um

56:54>> how many vendors do we know?

56:56>> So I will I will get to that and I will

56:58show you a breakdown of of the vendors

57:00and what they propose to bring.

57:02>> Um when there's less than uh 3 in of

57:05snow predicted, it's usually what we

57:07call a DPW only storm. We don't call in

57:09vendors. We use our own vehicles and

57:11resources and it and it's um sufficient.

57:14More than that, we do what we call all

57:16hands, which is everybody. Um and that

57:19means everyone all at once. Um there's

57:22no uh there's no other shift coming to

57:25to save us. It's everyone comes in,

57:28everyone works. Um and so that's

57:30everyone at at uh DBW Highway. There's a

57:34fair contingent of of staff from other

57:35divisions that also work snow. And then

57:38we set up a snow ops. Uh we did it at

57:41700 Allens and and thank God we now have

57:44a beautiful uh safe, clean, professional

57:47building at 75 Chapman. And we have a

57:49snow ops room that we use. I think a few

57:52of you may have seen it even during uh

57:54one of the winter events last um last

57:58season. I know I know Councilwoman

57:59Davidson had was very generous and and

58:02brought us some uh snacks at one point

58:04during the blizzard. And I think you may

58:06have seen the room that we're in. Um

58:08it's it's kind of the operation center.

58:10It's the heartbeat of DPW during snow.

58:13The personnel that work there are um two

58:15members of staff who manage all the

58:17vendors and all the snow inspectors,

58:19which I will also talk about. Um as well

58:22as um with this past winter um we've

58:27made it a more unified snow op. So, in

58:29the past, S and his leadership team

58:32would be in the garage and I and and our

58:36uh personnel would be in 700 Allen at 75

58:40Chapman. Now, we're all together. Um S

58:44to his dismay has to now spend

58:48snowstorms with me uh in this in the

58:51snows, but it actually works out much

58:53much better for communication and from

58:55coordination of effort. Um, we have a

58:58very kind of an old school system in

59:00that room, if you will. It's a

59:01whiteboard. The the length of the wall,

59:03it's huge. We divide it up into 15

59:06sections for the 15 wards. We color code

59:08it. Um, it's very old school, but it is

59:11a very quick and easy way for everyone

59:13that walks into that room who has

59:14something to do to know where the trucks

59:17are, who's working, um, what companies

59:21are there, um, and and so forth, what

59:23inspectors are assigned to what ward. Um

59:26and so we will continue that and we have

59:29um now also procured a monitor a large

59:33monitor like this one for that room

59:35which is going to enable us to utilize

59:37um other technological um tools which

59:41I'll also talk about um moving forward.

59:44We have a radio system that we use

59:45obviously uh snow ops is central to that

59:48radio system and that's where we receive

59:51all dispatches um from plow drivers from

59:55inspectors uh it's when it's the way

59:59that um the highway superintendent

1:00:01communicates to all of the operational

1:00:03staff for example there's a white out

1:00:05everybody pull over you know can't plow

1:00:08in a white out somebody that any

1:00:11messages to staff uh s will tell staff

1:00:14we're in plow mode now or you know um uh

1:00:18any any changes in operations that need

1:00:20to happen. We're also in communication

1:00:22with PPD PFD um particularly during the

1:00:27the last two really bad storms, the one

1:00:29in January and the one the blizzard

1:00:31obviously. Um we are also central to

1:00:34things like um uh tow trucks got stuck

1:00:38uh and so police were trying to help out

1:00:41the tow trucks and then the police would

1:00:42get stuck and then we're going out there

1:00:44to try to un unstick them. Um we were

1:00:47central to a couple of really scary

1:00:50incidents involving rescues um with

1:00:53patients in them. One of them was a

1:00:55child who was non-responsive and the

1:00:56rescue got stuck. Um and so we were able

1:00:59to assist in that and thank God um he

1:01:01ended up being okay. Um but it's a very

1:01:03very busy, very dynamic, very loud, very

1:01:06somewhat chaotic, but it's a controlled

1:01:08chaos um room and that's that's kind of

1:01:11like where where it all happens. It's

1:01:13very much a team effort. But we looked

1:01:15at that um operation on as I said the

1:01:18offseason to to figure out what some

1:01:20what are some of the changes we can make

1:01:22operationally. And so I'll be talking to

1:01:24you about those.

1:01:26Um, okay. In terms of resources, staff

1:01:29and as I said in all hands, uh, includes

1:01:31everybody, uh, including vendors. We

1:01:33had, uh, extended an invitation through

1:01:35the board of contract and supply for

1:01:37vendors to sign up. Um, it's not really

1:01:40a big process. It's kind of like they

1:01:42they sign up, we inspect their vehicles,

1:01:45um uh and and if they meet the criteria,

1:01:48then then they're they're on the list um

1:01:50to perform as a vendor for the city of

1:01:52Providence in in the snowstorm.

1:01:54Currently, as of today, we have 19

1:01:56vendors signed up with 31 pieces of

1:01:59equipment. The equipment ranges from

1:02:02pickups with plows on them, landscapers,

1:02:05um and and a small handful of of the

1:02:08larger snowplow vehicles. Um, we have

1:02:11heard from four other vendors they have

1:02:13tentatively signed up. We're we're

1:02:15optimistic and and frankly pretty

1:02:17confident they're going to sign up, but

1:02:18because they haven't finished all of

1:02:20their paperwork and hasn't gone through

1:02:21the entirety of that process, um, I

1:02:24didn't want to put them in there as a

1:02:25short thing, but we we're confident that

1:02:27they'll also be on board with us. Uh

1:02:29quick question regarding vendors artor

1:02:32was there any changes um or have there

1:02:35been any changes regarding um like

1:02:37incentives or outreach when it comes to

1:02:40to getting

1:02:41>> sure? So um I believe it was two years

1:02:45ago we raised or it might have been last

1:02:47year we raised the rate for vendors and

1:02:50and to my understanding Providence pays

1:02:52the highest rate of pay for their snow

1:02:54vendors statewide. Um, and so that was

1:02:58one thing we did. Um,

1:02:59>> is that including the state or

1:03:01>> we pay more than the state?

1:03:04>> Um,

1:03:05>> 1%.

1:03:06>> Yeah. 20% more than the state. Nice. Um,

1:03:09we also uh Yeah, I lost my train of

1:03:12thought. Sorry. No, no, no. It's not

1:03:14your fault. Um,

1:03:17it'll come back to me. Um,

1:03:21you said reaching out. Yes. So, we have

1:03:24made sure that we have contacted those

1:03:27vendors that worked with us in the past

1:03:29to make sure that they knew, hey,

1:03:32invitation's out. Get your paperwork in.

1:03:34Here's how you have to do it. Um, and so

1:03:36forth. So, that so that we weren't faced

1:03:38with a a scenario of a good vendor just

1:03:41missing out and not realizing that, oh,

1:03:42it's time to sign up. And so, we were we

1:03:44were much more proactive in reaching out

1:03:46to those vendors to make sure that they

1:03:48knew, get your paperwork in.

1:03:52In terms of vehicles, um these are the

1:03:54DPW vehicles that we have currently. Um

1:03:5816 pickups, 10 regular, six crew cabs.

1:04:02Um 12 landscapers. Most of these

1:04:04vehicles also have material spreaders on

1:04:05them, which means they can help with

1:04:07spreading salt and and salt mix. We have

1:04:1124 six wheelers in including three new

1:04:14ones that we received. Um and one

1:04:1710-wheeler. We're waiting for the

1:04:18delivery of five more uh large trucks. I

1:04:21think um uh one or two more 10 wheelers.

1:04:24>> Two 10 wheelers.

1:04:26Six uh six wheelers.

1:04:28>> Three and six wheelers. Right. We also

1:04:30um continue to use rental vehicles um

1:04:33from a Herk rental. Uh three

1:04:36landscapers, one which is deployed to

1:04:38public property and 13 six-wheelers, one

1:04:40which is deployed to parks. Um trucks

1:04:45are sand.

1:04:46>> Yeah, oak trucks are are um outfitted

1:04:49with spreading, you know, sanders so

1:04:51they can spread material. Unfortunately,

1:04:53the the spreaders are electric rather

1:04:56than hydraulic. Um I know that Richard

1:04:59>> Yes. And I know that Richard did some um

1:05:02market research and and that's all you

1:05:04can get um for Rhode Island. There's not

1:05:08there's not a company that provides

1:05:10rentals of with hydraulic spreaders.

1:05:12It's a problem because when the salt uh

1:05:15is exposed to the elements, it clumps,

1:05:17it goes into these electric spreaders

1:05:20and it breaks down. Um so when I get to

1:05:23salt, you'll see what we've uh

1:05:25>> do the DW vehicles that have the um the

1:05:30spreaders or those hydraulics.

1:05:31>> Yes.

1:05:33>> Any vehicle we purchased, we have

1:05:35correct

1:05:36>> city vehicles. Yes. Yes.

1:05:39>> So then that brings us to material. Um

1:05:42for many years and when I arrived at

1:05:45DPW, we had what I'm going to call a

1:05:47gentleman's agreement

1:05:49with an entity to to to store our salt.

1:05:52Um they had a use for the land that they

1:05:55were letting us use. Um so we had to

1:05:57leave. Um and so we have an agreement um

1:06:01with Propport to store our salt. Um that

1:06:04agreement is being amended and I know

1:06:06it's being referred um at some point for

1:06:09approval. Um the salt is going to be

1:06:11covered though and that's key to what I

1:06:13was saying a minute ago because the salt

1:06:15is never it hasn't been covered before

1:06:17and it's just inviting problems by not

1:06:20protecting it from the elements. And so

1:06:23um our salt pile is going to be covered.

1:06:25We currently on hand have 1,800 tons of

1:06:28salt. Um, and we also have 600 tons of a

1:06:31mix on hand right now. We're going to be

1:06:34ordering 500 tons of additional material

1:06:37that will be put um used for our

1:06:40satellite location. Usually it's at the

1:06:42Obadia Brown um school area where we

1:06:45during the winter season we store um

1:06:48auxiliary salt pile there. That's so

1:06:50that there's a midway point so that

1:06:52drivers don't have to come all the way

1:06:54back to DPW to refill for salt. They can

1:06:57they it's closer. It's kind of halfway

1:07:00through um the city and so it it enables

1:07:02them to be more efficient um with having

1:07:05to refill for salt

1:07:09>> to the question on salt the current um

1:07:12system for storage. What happens to the

1:07:15salt that hasn't been covered that was

1:07:17left over? So, we still have the salt

1:07:20pile and what we didn't use last season.

1:07:22We do um use some trucks and try to

1:07:25break it up and smash it up so that

1:07:27we're not throwing giant rocks of salt.

1:07:29>> So, I'll lower it probably once every

1:07:30two weeks down to the pile and just mix

1:07:33it mixes keeps on mixing the salt.

1:07:35>> Okay.

1:07:35>> So, that happens fairly often.

1:07:37>> Yes.

1:07:37>> Okay.

1:07:39>> Um how much salt

1:07:41is that?

1:07:44>> I I have it. I don't have it, but I can

1:07:46get that.

1:07:47>> I can get that to you. that counc

1:07:51um

1:07:52so the salt uh location now where the

1:07:56salt is now

1:07:57>> the main location

1:07:58>> the one that's in the rear

1:08:00>> right

1:08:01>> that is no longer going to be usable for

1:08:04facility

1:08:05>> oh no yes so we started using that

1:08:08location last season

1:08:10>> is that the one that province port

1:08:13>> yes

1:08:13>> uh going enter into a lease

1:08:16>> so we have a lease with Prop. Yeah.

1:08:19>> Um they then offered um a a larger

1:08:23footprint for us and so that's why we

1:08:26need to amend the lease rather than just

1:08:27renew it and that's what's in the works

1:08:29right now. It went to the BOCS and it's

1:08:31going to be I believe it's referred to

1:08:33this committee. Um so we've been using

1:08:35the propport land

1:08:37>> for one already.

1:08:38>> That's increasing the capacity in terms

1:08:40of land but also increased the lease

1:08:43cost

1:08:44>> a little bit. Yes. uh under the the

1:08:48future lease, are you going to be able

1:08:50to have the option to perhaps even cover

1:08:52that area?

1:08:54>> Yes.

1:08:54>> Is that in the works? Describe that. It

1:08:56>> is. We're we're um yes, short answer is

1:08:59yes. Um it's a it's a structure that

1:09:02we're looking to purchase to see um from

1:09:06someone else that Pragueport has worked

1:09:07with. So, we're talking to Prague for

1:09:09about us getting that covered. Um but

1:09:12it's going to be covered this winter.

1:09:14It's part of the list.

1:09:15>> Yes.

1:09:19>> Yes.

1:09:21How many location do we have besides DPW

1:09:25location or sort

1:09:27>> one? You like annex.

1:09:29>> Annex. Yeah,

1:09:30>> we have one over brown and tricks

1:09:33>> by trigg.

1:09:34>> Can we look for another location?

1:09:36>> We look every single year. We even asked

1:09:38some council people to check at their

1:09:39awards. Uh just nobody wants to handle

1:09:42salt on their property.

1:09:45been kicked out of a lot of places.

1:09:54>> Actually, Council Mur office used to be

1:09:56on Troy Street underneath the um the

1:09:58bridge. They threw us They threw us out

1:10:00of there. We're located on Royal Little

1:10:02Drive underneath the bridge. They threw

1:10:04us out of there. Um we tried to knock

1:10:07and burial

1:10:10>> Ros

1:10:16director of the that warehouse the old

1:10:18one cuz soon or later we going to be

1:10:22finishing building the new

1:10:24you you have any future use for the big

1:10:28warehouse that we going to be

1:10:30>> you mean the garage? Yeah, the garage.

1:10:32>> So, the the our current garage is is

1:10:35going to remain and that's going to be

1:10:37ma mainly vehicle storage and some

1:10:39material storage, not salt, but um you

1:10:43know, some of the some of the castings

1:10:45that sewer has to have an inventory of

1:10:48and that kind of thing. Um the new

1:10:50garage will not house all of our

1:10:53vehicles. It it'll be a place to repair

1:10:55the vehicles, to work on the vehicles,

1:10:57but the old garage will still be in use

1:10:59by DVW.

1:11:01So what snow or bad weather will be in

1:11:03the old garage versus the new garage?

1:11:12>> Um having the fortunate of visiting you

1:11:16guys and all that areas across where you

1:11:19you stole the salt.

1:11:21>> Um this year you were uh

1:11:24>> shipyard.

1:11:25>> The shipyard in that area. Um, is that

1:11:28land part of port or is that uh part of

1:11:31the city where you were uh handing out

1:11:35salt to to the people?

1:11:37>> That's prop

1:11:40four,

1:11:40>> correct?

1:11:40>> So, is that also going to be part of

1:11:42Lizzy?

1:11:43>> That's that was

1:11:45releasing last season

1:11:47>> next door to it.

1:11:49>> Yes.

1:11:52There's actually a company that rented

1:11:55next door to us that has a big pile of

1:11:57salt that they sell,

1:11:58>> right?

1:12:00>> I think I'm getting confused that that's

1:12:03part of our salt too.

1:12:08>> So that pile of salt is not us. It's a

1:12:11city.

1:12:12>> Thank you.

1:12:13>> Thank you.

1:12:19Um so just just to to talk about kind of

1:12:22continuous quality improvements that um

1:12:25we haven't gotten a chance to mention

1:12:26vendor verification. Um we we now

1:12:29believe it or not

1:12:32since I since I arrived at DVW, we

1:12:34started verifying that the trucks that

1:12:37vendors said they were bringing us

1:12:38really were the trucks that they brought

1:12:40us. Uh and that the vendors had valid

1:12:44driver's licenses. Uh, and we actually

1:12:47uncovered uh, one vendor early on in my

1:12:49tenure here who was falsifying his

1:12:51registration in order to get the higher

1:12:53rate. Um, so we had a

1:12:56>> um, thank you for doing that. I know

1:12:57there's been incidents in other places,

1:12:59other communities where folks have been

1:13:02in accidents and

1:13:03>> yeah,

1:13:05>> driver license.

1:13:07>> So, we wanted to try to professionalize

1:13:09that whole operation. I'm really I'm

1:13:11really proud of that. um and the people

1:13:12that work in snow ops to to check the

1:13:15vendors in and do that work. Um they do

1:13:17a great job. We've done more training.

1:13:20Um we've working with um our friends of

1:13:22the uh Rhode Island Public Works

1:13:24Association and they allowed us um some

1:13:27access to a snowplow simulator machine

1:13:29that um we were able to send some of our

1:13:32newer personnel to use. Um certainly

1:13:34Richard um has implemented training

1:13:37where where the newer plow driver plow

1:13:40salt um just to get that feel of of

1:13:42pushing the material um and also we

1:13:46we've had some kind of informal

1:13:48mentoring that has taken place with

1:13:50experienced cloud drivers with some of

1:13:52our younger staff and we're kind of

1:13:54formalizing that in a in a different way

1:13:56to make sure that it it's not just

1:13:58happening by accident. We really want to

1:14:00make sure that we utilize that

1:14:01experience and some of these guys have

1:14:03decades of plowing experience um to kind

1:14:05of create a succession and bring bring

1:14:08uh bring the newer guys up uh up to

1:14:11snuff. Um an LOA uh we have a letter of

1:14:14agreement with 1033 that I was really

1:14:17proud that we were able to implement um

1:14:19in response to concerns that were raised

1:14:21when I first got to DPW. There were a

1:14:23lot of concerns raised by staff about um

1:14:26their own well-being, frankly, um

1:14:28working snow. And I'll give you an

1:14:30example. You can have a a a gentleman

1:14:32working in a plow, and you know, um uh

1:14:35Councilman Pardo, I know you spent some

1:14:37time with Sal in a plow during during

1:14:39this past winter. It's it's exhausting

1:14:41work. It's not like driving around in

1:14:43your car. It's very very physical. Um,

1:14:47and they could be working, you know, 20,

1:14:5128, 30 hours in that snow plow and now

1:14:55the snowstorm's over and the next day is

1:14:57a scheduled workday and they're white

1:15:00and they really can't come into work the

1:15:02next day. They need to sleep. Um, prior

1:15:05to the LOA, they were required to use a

1:15:07vacation day for that. Um, the LOA

1:15:10provides a rest day. It's very strict in

1:15:12the way it's implemented. Nobody's

1:15:14making any money off it. You can't cash

1:15:15it in when you leave city. You only have

1:15:1748 hours after the end of the storm to

1:15:19use that rest day. If the next day after

1:15:21the storm is a holiday, you don't get a

1:15:23rest day because you're going to have

1:15:24that day off anyway and so forth. Um

1:15:27it's been a huge success with staff to

1:15:29know that the city cares about them that

1:15:31way. Um and it's it's something that I'm

1:15:33really proud of um that we're able to

1:15:35implement along with that staff wellness

1:15:37because we have our nice new facilities

1:15:39um and the facilities next door where

1:15:41GIS is housed. There's a a a large open

1:15:44room with showers in that facility that

1:15:47we did utilize last winter for staff

1:15:50rest area. We we have CCS uh mattresses.

1:15:54Um there's shower facilities. We told

1:15:56guys, you know, bring your own towels

1:15:58and shampoo. We're not a hotel, but if

1:16:01you need, you know, halfway through a

1:16:02snowstorm, you need a shower, you need

1:16:04to take a quick rest, um we have we've

1:16:08had those facilities uh open. Frankly, a

1:16:10lot of the guys have their own systems.

1:16:12they they like to pull over in the

1:16:14truck, but it's at least there um so

1:16:16that they can use it. And along with

1:16:17that, renovations have been made at 75

1:16:19Chapman um to allow for the director to

1:16:23have a similar rest space. I think I

1:16:26showed it to some of you when it was

1:16:28under construction. Um it's just a

1:16:30shower and a and a and a twin cot. Um

1:16:33but at least, you know, as director,

1:16:36I've always been there during every

1:16:38weather event. um I lived at 75 town for

1:16:41four days um during the blizzard. And so

1:16:44certainly I think it's a it's a good

1:16:46thing to have for the director or the

1:16:47mayor who also um stayed with us for for

1:16:51that whole week. Um just to be able to

1:16:53have that, you know, a hot shower

1:16:55sometimes can really do do wonders for

1:16:56waking me back up. We do have planned

1:16:59improvements. As I said, we've been

1:17:00working on a lot of of the lessons that

1:17:02we learned in the last winter. One is

1:17:04quality assurance. And how do we do

1:17:06quality assurance? Our system of

1:17:08inspectors uh is being overhauled. The

1:17:10invitation is going out this week to

1:17:12city staff to volunteer, although it's

1:17:15not a volunteer gig, if you will, but to

1:17:17sign up to be quality assurance. Um

1:17:20we're going, we've had conversations

1:17:22with 1033 um to change the dynamic a

1:17:25little bit so that it's not strictly by

1:17:28city seniority or union seniority. We

1:17:31want to make sure that we have a little

1:17:32bit of wiggle room to choose the very

1:17:35very best people um at that job. Um some

1:17:40people sign up and and like any other

1:17:42job they they their intentions are good

1:17:45but they might not just be very good at

1:17:47the assignment. Um and it's too

1:17:49important a task um to have to then

1:17:52babysit the babysitter, you know. Um and

1:17:54so we we are uh we have a new system.

1:17:57And I just talked to to to the to uh

1:17:59Ronnie Coya today and we've agreed on a

1:18:02system to be able to staff that function

1:18:05with the men and women who have the

1:18:08experience um and the expertise and the

1:18:11proven track record that they know how

1:18:13to do it and they know how to do it well

1:18:15and we can rely on that. Um along with

1:18:18that kind of quality assurance, um we're

1:18:21using some new technology and

1:18:23recordkeeping functions to improve the

1:18:25professionalism of snow ops and and also

1:18:27just the information gathering. Um on

1:18:30the off season I spent some time at the

1:18:32Realtime Crime Center um with the

1:18:34lieutenant there and learned about their

1:18:36use of drones and have gotten a

1:18:39commitment from PPD that after the next

1:18:41snowstorm. You can't fly a drone in the

1:18:43snow during a snowstorm, but when the

1:18:45snow has stopped falling, a contingent

1:18:47of DPW will be going to PPD to put up a

1:18:51drone to see how valuable that drone can

1:18:54be in in looking at how well roads were

1:18:57plowed. Um I I spent some time there,

1:19:00but it wasn't during the snowstorm. So I

1:19:02don't really know how that's going to

1:19:04look when everything is white, right?

1:19:06>> Um uh but we're going to do that. And

1:19:09they have committed to us that if it's

1:19:11valuable to us, they're going to work

1:19:12with us. So we'll probably site a police

1:19:14officer in snow ops. We have that nice

1:19:16big screen now. We'll be able to use

1:19:18their drone technology to keep an eye on

1:19:21everywhere in the city in a way that me

1:19:24riding around in a truck with S can't

1:19:26get me. um we do that, but it's this

1:19:29this is a a much more um broad view of

1:19:33what the streets really look like. And

1:19:34so I'm excited about that. We're

1:19:36improving our recordeping. We're we're

1:19:38going to have better logs in terms of

1:19:39radios, who has what radio, what was the

1:19:42radio transmission, um and also

1:19:45incidents. So if if if Richard sorry uh

1:19:49crashes a plow, um there's an incident

1:19:51report that's created, there's a radio

1:19:53transmission that's created. Um what

1:19:55will now also be included is an entry in

1:19:57a log um a digital log not a log book um

1:20:02saying what time it happened, where it

1:20:03happened, who was involved and so forth.

1:20:05Any unusual incident will be recorded in

1:20:08real time and that will be important

1:20:10later on for claims. Um we actually had

1:20:13a an an HR issue last year and it became

1:20:17important to try to remember when there

1:20:19was a white out when we told drivers to

1:20:21pull over. Well, I got asked the

1:20:23question and I said what time I thought

1:20:25the white out was and then I asked S if

1:20:27he had a different time that he thought

1:20:29the white out was. And then we went to

1:20:30Steve Cashion for the official and we

1:20:32were both wrong. Uh and so had that been

1:20:35written down or or recorded in a digital

1:20:37log in real time, it would have been it

1:20:40would have been a much better system.

1:20:41And so that been put in place. As I

1:20:43said, we get new trucks and we're going

1:20:45to do a better job of storing and

1:20:47preserving our salt. Um, one thing I do

1:20:50want to say about communications, um, we

1:20:52have spent some of this, uh, off season

1:20:55working with two mayoral fellows who

1:20:57work out of the mayor's office, uh, with

1:20:59S and also with a project manager to

1:21:02provide, um, more sustainability of

1:21:05operations. So S wins the Power Ball

1:21:08Wednesday night and goes off into the

1:21:10sunsets, live on a beach somewhere. all

1:21:12the things that currently live in his

1:21:14head will will be in a in a in a a

1:21:17binder or not literally a binder but you

1:21:20know that material has been downloaded

1:21:22so that the next person can see what it

1:21:25looks like when when Sal says we plow by

1:21:29a priority of mains hills hospitals

1:21:32school routes he knows what those are in

1:21:35every ward um but the next person coming

1:21:38in may not and so and a new plow driver

1:21:40may not know that if I'm following board

1:21:43five, where's the first place I'm going?

1:21:45And so all of that material working with

1:21:47the mayoral fellows has been put

1:21:49together to provide more structure. It's

1:21:52it won't allow us to say your street's

1:21:56going to be plowed in two hours, but it

1:21:59will allow us to say, you know,

1:22:01generally I know that the plow driver is

1:22:04here and your street is here. So like we

1:22:07can give some sense of when people can

1:22:09expect um to to be seeing the snow plow

1:22:12in their neighborhood. There's other

1:22:14opportunities using technology um and

1:22:16and frankly personnel um that are not

1:22:19currently in place which which could

1:22:21could certainly be explored um to

1:22:24improve that kind of transparency. Um

1:22:26but I I feel like we've done an awful

1:22:28lot of work using the lessons learned

1:22:30and um we're ready.

1:22:32>> Thank you.

1:22:35question

1:22:40Davidson and

1:22:42>> uh thank you chairman and thank you so

1:22:45much for that presentation.

1:22:47>> Sure.

1:22:47>> Uh question about the trucks. When are

1:22:50they expected?

1:22:52>> We have two new ones coming December at

1:22:54the end of December. As far as the two

1:22:5710 wheelers, we don't really know.

1:22:58They're not in sight. And as far as the

1:23:00next um set of six wheels, which is

1:23:04three more, we don't know about that

1:23:05either.

1:23:06>> So, our next delivery will be hopefully

1:23:10by the end of December, but three

1:23:11additional six wheelers. After that,

1:23:14we'll have three more six wheels we're

1:23:16waiting on and two 10 wheels we're

1:23:17waiting on, which we don't know.

1:23:20>> Right. Thanks. I know we've been waiting

1:23:22on them for a long time.

1:23:23>> Right. Uh when we go to the truck, it

1:23:25doesn't come complete.

1:23:26>> Yeah. comes like with a it's like a

1:23:28shell and said that place do something

1:23:31there that place does something there.

1:23:33So it's it's kind of like when you go

1:23:35buy a car dealership got everything

1:23:36there your lights your radio we have to

1:23:39take it certain places.

1:23:42Um, let me ask all of John connected

1:23:47about the vendors. So, you said there's

1:23:5019 signed up, four in the pipeline. How

1:23:53does that number compare to the number

1:23:55that uh you hired last year?

1:23:59>> Um, I think it's generally around the

1:24:01same. I have noticed the trucks that

1:24:03that some of them tell us they're going

1:24:06to bring. Um it seems like with there's

1:24:09a couple more what I'm going to call big

1:24:11trucks, non- pickup trucks, um than I

1:24:14thought I saw last year. So that's

1:24:15encouraging. It's important to know

1:24:17though that these are trucks that are

1:24:19utilized by these vendors in their

1:24:20day-to-day business. And so if they tell

1:24:22me they're going to, you know, they sign

1:24:24up and say, "I have five trucks to bring

1:24:27you in. They're all 10 wheelers with

1:24:29clouds on them." when the snow storm

1:24:32comes, they might show up with three of

1:24:35them or two of them because something

1:24:37broke or what, you know, so it's not we

1:24:40don't always get on the snowstorm day

1:24:42what they said they could bring us

1:24:44because they're dealing with those on a

1:24:45day-to-day basis.

1:24:48>> More related to that. Thank you.

1:24:50>> Sure.

1:24:50>> Uh so sort of related to that and I know

1:24:54we talked a little bit about this um

1:24:56this past winter. So can you talk to us

1:24:59about the hiring that you have poor

1:25:02vendors to show up to show up and to

1:25:06stay on the job. I'm not doubting that

1:25:07they do, but I want to better understand

1:25:10when you hire them what the

1:25:11accountability is. So, part of our um

1:25:15inspector, what what have been called

1:25:16inspector um function is to keep an eye

1:25:20on the vendors to make sure they're

1:25:22really there and and plowing and doing a

1:25:26good job. Um they they are notified by

1:25:31Ensolves with a report. They report

1:25:33they're they're they're actually usually

1:25:35really good about showing up and they

1:25:37bring us what they have. Um we verify

1:25:40that their drivers are the same drivers

1:25:42that we talked about uh when they signed

1:25:45up. Before they can be approved, they

1:25:47have to bring us their vehicles and our

1:25:50mechanics inspect them. So to make sure

1:25:52that they're in good working order and

1:25:55safe and well um uh inspected and

1:25:58registered and all the all the things

1:25:59are are properly in place. Um I think

1:26:03did that answer your question? I'm

1:26:04sorry.

1:26:05>> It does. Yeah. I mean, you know, want to

1:26:07make sure that the hiring were actually

1:26:10going to be able to get out.

1:26:11>> Yes.

1:26:12>> When the day passed.

1:26:14>> Um I have some followup questions on uh

1:26:17vehicles and vendors. Um, so during the

1:26:21the blizzard, how many vehicles did we

1:26:24have to start on this?

1:26:28>> I don't remember number couple less than

1:26:31what you gave as far as the total trucks

1:26:33as far as vendors and city trucks.

1:26:34>> Yeah, the total.

1:26:37>> Yeah, I I didn't bring the numbers from

1:26:39the last winter. I I can get you that. I

1:26:42mean, um, and it was and it was a moving

1:26:45number as imagined because as things

1:26:47broke or whatever. Well, everybody has

1:26:49to realize when I first started off when

1:26:51we have vendors, we had like 26

1:26:54wheelers, 10 10 wheelers, big

1:26:56landscapers. Today, we have landscapers

1:26:58and pickup trucks,

1:26:59>> right?

1:27:00>> So, when you have a big storm like that,

1:27:02I mean, don't get me wrong, the vendors

1:27:03can ride 10 with our guys, but we

1:27:05actually need a lot more big trucks to

1:27:07help us out, and we're just not getting

1:27:09them. But, it seems like all other towns

1:27:11and cities have the same problem.

1:27:13So yeah, that's something that I've

1:27:16heard um multiple times throughout this

1:27:19uh term I guess really. Um is there

1:27:22anything that we can do to try to

1:27:25>> it's the idea that let's say um South

1:27:28Solomon has a landscape of business. Um

1:27:32I don't want to move my trucks no more

1:27:34because of because of the manhole

1:27:35covers. Uh there are companies that

1:27:38can't find drivers for their trucks

1:27:41and if it doesn't snow,

1:27:44they don't get no money.

1:27:48>> Is there any um

1:27:52cities, I guess, or towns that that

1:27:54you're aware of that have like a

1:27:57retainer agreement type of vendor? I

1:28:00know Francing

1:28:04for help.

1:28:04>> Yeah. because they have the same

1:28:06problems.

1:28:07>> So they had in in in our discussions at

1:28:09the Rhode Island public works meetings

1:28:11and we went to an after winter um

1:28:14>> actually having a roundup discussion to

1:28:17>> y

1:28:18>> with uh cities and towns

1:28:20>> and it does everyone's in the same

1:28:23pickle. Um it's it seems to be felt more

1:28:26acutely in the larger cities like ours

1:28:29but everyone is in the same they're

1:28:31having the same issues.

1:28:35I I I get it, but I'm just like like we

1:28:38can't I feel like like that can't be

1:28:40like like I'm just saying like I know

1:28:42it's not up to you guys, but like I feel

1:28:44like there has to be some type of fight.

1:28:47>> Yeah, I know. I know exactly that. I

1:28:49know exactly that.

1:28:50>> Um it's like you can't just give up and

1:28:53say, "Okay, that's the way it is." Um,

1:28:55>> like even if it's not like economically,

1:28:57you know, feasible, I would like to at

1:28:59least know like, you know, to have

1:29:01something to bring access to.

1:29:03>> Actually, the state also put signs on

1:29:05the highways that we're hiring. That's

1:29:07how bad it is also

1:29:08>> and they struggle as well. Um the the

1:29:11issue of retainer I have I have seen

1:29:14that um explored and that's a you know

1:29:18that can be a tough thing because you're

1:29:20you're paying people basically

1:29:23>> not to work. I mean if whether they work

1:29:25or not they're going to get paid.

1:29:27>> Um and in a winter that doesn't have a

1:29:30lot of snow

1:29:31>> that looks like a waste. you know, it

1:29:33looks like it's hard. It's it's hard for

1:29:35you to explain to your constituents of

1:29:37why you didn't do this initiative

1:29:38because we didn't have the money for it,

1:29:40but you paid these people who didn't

1:29:41even snowplow.

1:29:42>> So, it's it's always a balance,

1:29:45>> right?

1:29:46And and that's that's all I all I really

1:29:48wanted and you know when we're talking

1:29:50about property taxes like this is the

1:29:53type of stuff that helps us have you

1:29:55know more productive efficient

1:29:57conversations with our neighbors on the

1:29:59cost of living and

1:30:00>> right

1:30:01>> how expensive things are. Um but I

1:30:04appreciate the the the responses to I

1:30:07know it's not

1:30:09>> I mean we're calling vendors that we had

1:30:11in a while to come on board and still

1:30:13want to do it. Um, and I asked about the

1:30:17the the

1:30:19total amount of of the weather uh

1:30:21because I uh for Councilman Korea uh

1:30:25suggested a plan for W six. Um it

1:30:28included essentially six vehicles uh for

1:30:33just W six throughout

1:30:35>> which is which is kind of ridiculous

1:30:38because

1:30:38>> and I want to bring it up just to like

1:30:40see how feasible like that is. you know

1:30:43that would be six times six wheelers. Um

1:30:46I'd like to put

1:30:48>> right

1:30:48>> a lot in each ward but we don't have

1:30:50that

1:30:50>> right

1:30:51>> and that that's why I just want to like

1:30:52bring it up into discussion how you know

1:30:55uh far away it is from what we actually

1:30:58have in defense of resources you know um

1:31:04sorry back you said um in terms of the

1:31:07resources of the vehicles that we have

1:31:09we have a 16

1:31:12g 24 wheeler wheeler we rent bring They

1:31:16burned an additional 1350

1:31:19and there's five more plow trucks coming

1:31:22for what we have in our inventory. We're

1:31:25prep and maybe this isn't a way that you

1:31:27guys can um measure this, but are we

1:31:30prepared for a six a six inch storm for

1:31:34the for the city with all of the

1:31:36inventory that we have? Would it be more

1:31:38feasible to say it's a a one foot snow

1:31:42kind of storm or just like just threw a

1:31:45depends when the snow's coming, how long

1:31:47the duration is, what's the weather as

1:31:49far as um coldness. Um, a lot depends on

1:31:52it, but a 6 in. Yeah.

1:31:54>> Be like feasible for like a kind of what

1:31:57was the average six to eight inches?

1:32:01>> Yeah, if I can. Yes, sure. Yes. Uh,

1:32:05however,

1:32:08>> we're always going to be able to remove

1:32:09the snow. Okay. it where you get into

1:32:13where you get into frustration is time,

1:32:16>> right?

1:32:17>> It's time. So, a a 3 inch to 4 in storm

1:32:21and which is kind of what we had been

1:32:23having up until last winter,

1:32:26>> people got very used to waking up and

1:32:28looking out and seeing, hey, I can go to

1:32:30work. I can drive the roads clear. um a

1:32:34a larger storm certainly that first one

1:32:36in January where everything fell very

1:32:38fast and it was about 17 inches and then

1:32:41it froze solid um followed by the

1:32:44blizzard that's when you start looking

1:32:45at snow removal which is the the heavy

1:32:49equipment that takes the snow away um

1:32:53you know will can we clear it? Yes. Is

1:32:56it going to happen instantaneously or

1:32:59overnight? It depends on how many inches

1:33:01fall when it falls. uh what the

1:33:04temperature is like. Yes, but sometimes

1:33:07it's going to take longer. Um, and one

1:33:09of the things I wanted to address when

1:33:10when when S talks about hills, highway,

1:33:14uh what is it? Hills, overpasses. I

1:33:15think I should drilled into my head.

1:33:17Hills, mains, overpasses, hospital

1:33:19routes, school routes, the uh the trash

1:33:21route is at the end of that list. And we

1:33:23learned um early on that we needed to

1:33:26make sure we paid attention to whoever

1:33:28was next to get trash pickup. By some

1:33:30weird coincidence of the universe, so

1:33:34many of our storms happened over the

1:33:36weekend, which meant the next snow day

1:33:38was Mon next trash day was Monday, which

1:33:41is the east side. So, we would get

1:33:43accused of just paying too much

1:33:46attention to it's because of trash. And

1:33:49I wanted to say that it was because of

1:33:50trash because because waste management

1:33:53will not have their drivers dealing with

1:33:56conditions that are even the little

1:33:58tiniest bit slippery. If one of their

1:34:00garbage trucks even just does that, they

1:34:03go home. Uh and so we always want to

1:34:06make sure we're not in that situation.

1:34:07So if so if any one ward looks like it's

1:34:10getting extra attention, that's why

1:34:13because they're next for trash. I

1:34:15believe when it snows, it's not so much

1:34:16inches, it's when the snow is going to

1:34:18come. How long is it going to last

1:34:21before it stops? Then obviously the

1:34:23temperature.

1:34:25I rather have 10 inches of snow starting

1:34:27at 6:00 at night over the weekend rather

1:34:30than having three inches during the day.

1:34:33>> And when there's nobody on the road,

1:34:35clear everything up faster. One of our

1:34:37biggest problems is people think that

1:34:40they have a four-wheel drive and they're

1:34:41stuck with a BMW car. uh we have the

1:34:44same problems like on Avenue Hill stay

1:34:47home

1:34:50to that. Thank you for that. That's

1:34:52actually a good example. Um one of the

1:34:54things that

1:34:56I noticed is that as we are kind of

1:34:59growing population in the city, but also

1:35:02there's that much more car traffic in

1:35:04cars on the streets. We have this

1:35:07wonderful opportunity to use public

1:35:09property to park certain to burn

1:35:12vehicles and people are aware of that

1:35:14boards like mine don't necessarily have

1:35:16spaces that are close enough to be able

1:35:18to do that. So, we didn't have an area

1:35:20really designated for my ward, but I

1:35:24realized that we have um we have an

1:35:29issue with a multitude of cars,

1:35:30especially in the student housing area,

1:35:32that don't necessarily aren't they're

1:35:34not um can't necessarily park them on

1:35:36campus. Um so, we have a lot of our

1:35:39dynamic streets or even our smaller

1:35:41streets that have a little bit of an

1:35:43issue getting snow plows or it done in a

1:35:46you know, curve to curb manner. Um is

1:35:49there a

1:35:51conversation happening with the colleges

1:35:53to make sure that the students are aware

1:35:55um especially the ones that live off

1:35:57campus um that there are spaces around

1:36:00the city that they can go and park their

1:36:02cars and then they just have to follow

1:36:04kind of all the procedures that

1:36:05everybody else does. There was one thing

1:36:07that I noticed um especially in our dead

1:36:09end streets um in my neighborhood. It

1:36:12was so tough to get the vehicles in to

1:36:15clean. Um because there were still

1:36:17students parked because there's a lot of

1:36:20students that are parking. There's a lot

1:36:21of students that bring their vehicles

1:36:23that are assigned to one unit and it's

1:36:25like six to 10 vehicles to one

1:36:27apartment. There's a door open for them

1:36:29to park. Um, I think as that's an

1:36:32excellent point and and something I'll

1:36:34bring back to our curbside administrator

1:36:35as she's looking at opportunities for

1:36:38people to park, not just students, but

1:36:39for people to park during a parking ban.

1:36:41That's an important factor. I'll make

1:36:43sure that she looks into that. Yeah.

1:36:45>> Um, just on that note, can I I'm sure

1:36:48she's working on it already, but that

1:36:50was a complaint concern I got from my

1:36:53neighbors is that there wasn't really

1:36:55anything close to to war six. of it just

1:36:59be as fair and spread and cross as much

1:37:03as possible.

1:37:04>> Sure.

1:37:13>> How many vendors do we need in total

1:37:17to

1:37:19do the whole city? We don't have 19

1:37:21vendors

1:37:2323. It's

1:37:24>> not the amount of vendors, it's what

1:37:26they drive it.

1:37:32If 10 more vendors showed up tomorrow,

1:37:34I'd take homes.

1:37:36Um, so there's I'm never going to say,

1:37:38"No, no, no, we're good. We have too

1:37:39many." Um, um, we could always use more,

1:37:43but it but to South point, it's it's

1:37:44more about what they're bringing.

1:37:48>> What is the rate that we pay now?

1:37:51>> Do you know the rate off the top of your

1:37:52head?

1:37:53>> Because the gasoline $5 a gallon. That's

1:37:56why they're not applying. If you pay

1:37:57then B and

1:37:58>> I think pickup trucks is like 175 an

1:38:02hour.

1:38:02>> It depends on the truck. So I can get

1:38:04you a I can I will send you the the grid

1:38:07that basically says if you have this

1:38:08kind of truck you get this much. Um

1:38:10because we did raise it a couple years

1:38:12ago. I'll send you that.

1:38:13>> Please. Sure.

1:38:15>> Can I for

1:38:17um and

1:38:23training? Who does the training?

1:38:26So I train people,

1:38:28>> new employees

1:38:30and existing employees that want

1:38:32training.

1:38:32>> How many hours is the basic training?

1:38:36>> As many hours as they need. So I make

1:38:40that determination on when they're

1:38:42training. If I feel that they need more

1:38:43training, more training, then I keep

1:38:45doing it until they feel comfortable in

1:38:47the vehicle that's going to be operating

1:38:49during the snowstorms. So then we allow

1:38:51the guys who've been with us for a while

1:38:53that people will learn and drive with

1:38:55them for a while.

1:38:57>> And when you going to start doing the

1:38:58training?

1:38:59>> When I'm going to start? November one.

1:39:01Yes.

1:39:02>> Well, when I come Yeah. the end of the

1:39:04month. I usually start

1:39:06>> the

1:39:09inspectors

1:39:10when the DPW hires inspectors. you hire

1:39:15inspectors that they've been working for

1:39:17DPW or you speak like any one from CDA

1:39:22from the city only to be inspect

1:39:25>> um that's the improvement that we're

1:39:28making um because it had to be based on

1:39:31union seniority

1:39:33>> it was more like the scenario you just

1:39:36described um but working with the union

1:39:38we've been able to tighten it up and so

1:39:39this season it's going to be um anyone

1:39:42can can sign up and indicate and

1:39:44interest, but they're going to be vetted

1:39:46in a way that we haven't been able to

1:39:48before. And and it's not going to

1:39:50strictly be by seniority because the job

1:39:52is too important.

1:39:54>> If your only qualification is that you

1:39:55have seniority, you might not be the

1:39:57best person for the job. Um, and so we

1:39:59want to make sure that we that we have

1:40:02the really good ones uh on board

1:40:06>> and we as a tons of people had the

1:40:08training for inspector and so at least

1:40:10we know what's going on.

1:40:13Take the what?

1:40:14>> The training. Yeah, that'll that's that.

1:40:16Well,

1:40:17>> you want to train the inspector or apply

1:40:20be take the training that that

1:40:24>> that train that you doing as as

1:40:26inspector. I would like to attend and

1:40:29and take the same training

1:40:32>> train truck driver or train inspector.

1:40:34>> Inspector. I don't want to be train

1:40:36inspector. I want to take the train the

1:40:39class that he's going to do. I don't do

1:40:42the inspectors. I just do the truck

1:40:43drivers.

1:40:44>> Yeah.

1:40:45>> Who does the training for inspectors?

1:40:48>> So, we had been doing a training. Um,

1:40:50when I first got here, there was

1:40:52something called the snow launch uh

1:40:54which happened in October, which was a

1:40:57lunch. Uh, and so we converted that into

1:41:01an actual training session. Um and uh

1:41:04but the inspectors have been sort of

1:41:07carved out from that um because of some

1:41:10lessons that we learned particularly

1:41:12last season. So the it's my uh it's my

1:41:16anticipation that this season upcoming

1:41:18the inspectors who are going to be

1:41:21working will be the ones with long

1:41:24experience who know how to do it. So,

1:41:27I'm not sure how much actual formal

1:41:29training we're going to need to do with

1:41:30them, but what we could do is we we

1:41:32could sit with anybody and show them

1:41:35what we've done. It's I mean, it's not

1:41:37it's not rocket science. Um, it's

1:41:40I'll show you a picture of a street and

1:41:42say, and we did that. We put it up on

1:41:43the screen. How would you rank this on a

1:41:46scale of one to five? And

1:41:49I got ones, I got fives, I get So, if

1:41:51I'm on the radio saying, "Hey, how's

1:41:53how's uh Valley Street look?" Oh, it's

1:41:55great. It's great, looks great, curb to

1:41:58curb, smooth. Um, and then we take a

1:42:00ride and say, "What are they looking

1:42:02at?" Um, so we we've been very

1:42:05frustrated by that system. And so that's

1:42:07why we we want to really make sure that

1:42:09when I ask or the next director asks,

1:42:12"How's that street look?" That the

1:42:14answer they can rely on the answer that

1:42:15they're being given because it's someone

1:42:17that really has proven themselves

1:42:19previously to be good at it.

1:42:24>> And

1:42:24>> sure.

1:42:26Uh just a couple question inspectors. Um

1:42:29so they stay on as as long as the

1:42:34operation and all of their

1:42:38>> Yes, I have um I have in the past sent

1:42:40people home who who are clearly just

1:42:43fatigued to to

1:42:46the point where it's not safe. Um they

1:42:49have the same opportunities for rest as

1:42:52the other uh people working snow. Um, as

1:42:55you all know, in in very long duration

1:42:57events, uh, the city provides meals to

1:43:00those working snow. That's important

1:43:02because a lot of times, certainly if the

1:43:04city's closed down, there's no place to

1:43:06go buy food. Um, and I don't want all

1:43:09all everybody running a muck looking for

1:43:11what McDonald's is open. Um, when we can

1:43:14just provide a central location, snow

1:43:16ops, for them to come and pick up a box

1:43:18lunch and and that's usually what it is.

1:43:20Um, and and eat to sustain themselves.

1:43:22And so we we keep an eye on people's

1:43:25safety and fatigue level and and um but

1:43:27generally yeah they they work the whole

1:43:29thing.

1:43:32>> How many inspectors per you want to do

1:43:34this time or because last time you did

1:43:37two right?

1:43:38>> So there was an um a system if you will

1:43:42when I first started where we weren't

1:43:44plowing or inspecting by ward. We were

1:43:47plowing and inspecting by sector.

1:43:50someone had divvied up the city into

1:43:52sectors in an effort to make it more

1:43:54efficient. Um because a ward is a

1:43:56political map. It's not the snowflow

1:43:58map. So it doesn't necessarily make a

1:44:01whole lot of sense that way. Um and to

1:44:05that end each um sector could consist of

1:44:10multiple sections of the same ward. So

1:44:13there were multiple inspectors. So we we

1:44:15moved away from that. We went back to

1:44:17wards. Um when when someone with 22

1:44:20years of plow experience like Sal

1:44:22Solomon says you got to believe me the

1:44:24wards system works better than the way

1:44:28this was divvied up. Um so we went back

1:44:31to wards and some of the larger wards

1:44:33were still divided in half. So there

1:44:36would be an A and a B. um with the

1:44:39blizzard toward the not the end of the

1:44:42blizzard but toward when we were in the

1:44:44real throws of the cleanup of the

1:44:46blizzard when we were still 247. We

1:44:49divvied up the city into quadrants and

1:44:52we assigned what we called quadrant

1:44:55captains and it was basically

1:44:58one super inspector um who manned that

1:45:03section of the city for equipment and

1:45:05for quality assurance and it worked

1:45:07really well and that's what kind of gave

1:45:09us the idea that like we need to do

1:45:11inspections better because god bless

1:45:13this actually worked better than the way

1:45:15we were doing it. It's our anticipation

1:45:17in the upcoming season that we'll still

1:45:19have probably 15 inspectors on the

1:45:22books, but the way they're going to be

1:45:24assigned will be different. And as I

1:45:26said, we're we're going to have a lot

1:45:27more confidence in the personnel that

1:45:29are being deployed than we've had in in

1:45:32the last couple seasons.

1:45:35>> Sure.

1:45:43>> Is it? Um it is that's on the topic. Do

1:45:47you have something about

1:45:49>> Yeah, just to follow up on the um

1:45:54with regards to and I know that we

1:45:57continue to talk about the blizzard, but

1:45:58the blizzard was something that allowed

1:46:00us to learn a lot, right?

1:46:01>> Um some of us go out and and start

1:46:06looking at our streets, but we've been

1:46:07that there's there's been some movement

1:46:09of plows everywhere. Um, and one of the

1:46:13things that I had found helpful was

1:46:16being able to contact said inspector

1:46:19whenever we got a chance, but it wasn't

1:46:20necessarily an opportunity that was

1:46:22given to us. I didn't know who my

1:46:24inspector was until I kind of forced to

1:46:25find him.

1:46:26>> Um, is there a possibility for us to be

1:46:28able to retain that information so that

1:46:30we can contact them? Obviously, I'm sure

1:46:33that we can create some parameters, but

1:46:34something like that would be probably

1:46:36helpful um given that um we started

1:46:39getting calls pretty early on ourselves.

1:46:41Um that's something I think we could

1:46:43look at. Um I do know that during the

1:46:46during the really big snowstorms last

1:46:47winter, we had kind of a central

1:46:50communication point person out of the

1:46:52mayor's office so that Snowox wasn't

1:46:55being bombarded. And I don't mean that

1:46:58disrespectfully, but like that we

1:46:59weren't getting 15 phone calls in snow

1:47:01ops while we were also trying to run

1:47:03snow ops. Um that actually worked really

1:47:05well. I know I know at least one council

1:47:08person who who um who thanked thanked

1:47:11the person in the mayor's office

1:47:13personally I saw like in a text message

1:47:15that I saw and it worked really well. It

1:47:17was a central conduit of information. I

1:47:20think that might work better than you

1:47:22all having um inspector phone numbers

1:47:26because they sometimes they change.

1:47:27Yeah. And maybe someone's sick or they

1:47:29didn't show up or we've deployed them

1:47:31somewhere else and so that could get

1:47:32messaged

1:47:33>> or maybe just an early point of contact

1:47:35going forward so that we know exactly

1:47:37who to contact for our neighbors. Um and

1:47:39then just one last thing um on

1:47:41inspectors um or actually the mapping of

1:47:44the boards and what goes first and what

1:47:46goes second and things like that. I I

1:47:48don't actually know what how you guys

1:47:52strategically plan to to do cleanly up

1:47:55other than I live on a really small size

1:47:57tree that is super narrow and I'm one of

1:47:59the last. Um so would you guys be

1:48:03willing to share as well by how you

1:48:06break down the words that we provide

1:48:08information?

1:48:11>> Yeah, sure. I think it relates to that.

1:48:16>> Um, so I had and I bet we all had folks

1:48:21in our neighborhood who genuinely

1:48:23themselves were emergency personnel.

1:48:26>> Sure.

1:48:26>> Who had to get to Rhode Island Hospital

1:48:29Miam where and genuinely stuck in their

1:48:33house. I mean, I also I live on the I

1:48:36must be the last street pl,

1:48:39tiny little street, but not fine for the

1:48:42emergency room doctor who lives across

1:48:44the street,

1:48:45>> right?

1:48:46>> And when he and I were talking, standing

1:48:49up here in the snow, and he was sort of

1:48:51desperate, um he sort of he he told me a

1:48:54couple things. He said that some of his

1:48:57colleagues had actually gotten rides

1:49:00with DPW personnel, and he was like,

1:49:02"How do I do that?

1:49:04How do we know that? So that that's a

1:49:06little bit of an aside. What I'm sort of

1:49:07pointing to is a big of a process thing.

1:49:10What he and I finally figured out is

1:49:14there it was probably maybe a clear

1:49:17route from Elmrove to Roambo to get to

1:49:21Miriam. Maybe he said to me and I fully

1:49:25agree. He said I knew what the route

1:49:27was. it would make a huge difference

1:49:30because then we could actually know how

1:49:32to get it to work,

1:49:33>> right?

1:49:34>> So, I'm not sure how to operationalize

1:49:36that, but I saw that come up not only

1:49:39with my across the street emergency

1:49:41physician neighbor, but with nurses,

1:49:44other folks. I live in a very hospitaly

1:49:46neighborhood

1:49:47>> and um it was a real crisis and very

1:49:51confusing people.

1:49:52>> Yeah.

1:49:52>> So, as you are doing, this probably was

1:49:55should have been a question for Clara as

1:49:57well. Um, but I think that that is

1:49:59something that we need to think about.

1:50:01People who are genuinely emergency

1:50:03personnel themselves, how can they get

1:50:06out of their snow in street to a main

1:50:08artery and have a systematic and safe

1:50:11way to get to work?

1:50:12>> So, we did um

1:50:15transport a number of people. I know

1:50:18there was a surgeon that had a surgery.

1:50:20>> How do I call to make that happen?

1:50:22>> But it was, as you say, it was like

1:50:24because they knew, you know, they

1:50:25somehow got in our queue. We had talked

1:50:28at one point um working with the mayoral

1:50:31fellows about how would we to exactly to

1:50:35your question how would we you know what

1:50:37about the guy that that is an emergency

1:50:39room doc but he doesn't know you know

1:50:41he's not on our radar

1:50:42>> and the thought of creating some sort of

1:50:44opportunity for them to put themselves

1:50:46on a list was discussed as you can

1:50:49imagine that

1:50:51>> could get very ugly because now we're a

1:50:53taxi service instead of plowing streets

1:50:56and so Yeah. Um but in but to your to

1:50:59your idea and your thought about you

1:51:01know better

1:51:03um understanding of what the root is so

1:51:05that people at least have an idea. I

1:51:07think that's something that that we

1:51:09could talk about as as because he knows

1:51:11what the root is.

1:51:12>> Um and it's mapped out. Um and so that

1:51:15that is something I think you should

1:51:17keep in mind

1:51:18>> next season. Um and and to the to the

1:51:21extent that we then how we provide that

1:51:24information so it gets to that doc. I

1:51:26mean, I'd like to be able to suggest

1:51:28that it could be done through council.

1:51:29It could be done through some ideas

1:51:32around how we can help on our end. And

1:51:34maybe and I would, you know, further

1:51:35say, and I don't want to sort of problem

1:51:37solve here in the room, but I was

1:51:38mentioning maybe not actually DPW that

1:51:41gets

1:51:42>> the emergency room out to the emergency

1:51:44room, but if we know there's a clear

1:51:46route,

1:51:47>> we could find other systems.

1:51:50>> Correct.

1:51:52>> Thank you. I will like to get the

1:51:56the map how you do the the the start of

1:52:00the pling per so I can show the the

1:52:04stage was calling me how come they have

1:52:06blood on my street how come this because

1:52:08we have priorities I know your hills

1:52:10your

1:52:11>> I got so I would like to have a map

1:52:15>> and we do have maps that highlight what

1:52:17the hills are the mains are over

1:52:19>> I can show it to the to the custodians

1:52:22this is the way they do it is because to

1:52:24be the safety way to do it.

1:52:27>> If you don't plow your main sil

1:52:28overpass, whoever's on the secondary

1:52:30streets or dead ends, you plow their

1:52:33streets first, when they get to the

1:52:34main, where they going to go.

1:52:36So that's that would be a great map to

1:52:39have in conversations how they get done.

1:52:42I know my that entry is the last one

1:52:46that gets done like day later, but I

1:52:50think there's a better guy with a

1:52:51pickup.

1:52:54But like

1:52:55>> but we do have the maps already set now

1:52:58of your hills mains and overpass and

1:52:59everybody's wars.

1:53:01>> I would love to have that.

1:53:05>> You have two colors in your walls. Split

1:53:07the wars in half.

1:53:10>> Thank you.

1:53:14>> Thank you. Um

1:53:16so

1:53:18and thanks for all your information uh

1:53:20and the opportunity to ride with the

1:53:22with the crew and learning. I guess I'm

1:53:24certified now, right? So I have to plow

1:53:28an inspector or something. But um I I

1:53:31did get the opportunity to go throughout

1:53:34the city and and with with your

1:53:36department and so forth and month has

1:53:37months have gone by and now we've had

1:53:41and we've had the reports and we've been

1:53:44criticized and we didn't do a good job

1:53:46as a city etc etc. Um are we taking the

1:53:50time we taking the time to evaluate

1:53:54um lessons learned? Is there uh was

1:53:58there a process to that and do you have

1:54:00some for form of report for us uh turned

1:54:05in in a sense that

1:54:08back that up and also for historical

1:54:11right to to deal with that and as we

1:54:13know there will be a transition coming

1:54:15forward in in three or four months. Um

1:54:19is there such report in the dividends

1:54:23and if not then should we be going in

1:54:27that direction so that way you know we

1:54:28beat this come uh February or January

1:54:32>> right so our our sorry

1:54:35>> our ability to so the short answer is no

1:54:38there's not an afteraction report um

1:54:40that we've created part of that is just

1:54:43a function of the fact that

1:54:46um I I my former boss boss and mentor

1:54:49used to say, "I'm too busy fighting the

1:54:51alligators to drain the swamp." We were

1:54:54kind of too busy fighting the snowstorm

1:54:56to stop and record what we were doing

1:54:59and what we're doing. And and so to that

1:55:01end, one of the things that I that I

1:55:03highlighted tonight was that we're going

1:55:05to keep better track in real time of

1:55:07what's happening in real time for that

1:55:10for that very reason. We can go back

1:55:12after and look and say,

1:55:15>> you know, when did this happen? Why did

1:55:17it happen then? Shouldn't it have

1:55:18happened that it, you know, and do all

1:55:20of that actor action um analysis? We've

1:55:24done it clearly. We've done it in a in a

1:55:26I guess less formal way.

1:55:27>> I've been there almost 22 years. I've

1:55:29never had a scenario like we had last

1:55:31year where you have a 16inch snowstorm

1:55:33with negative temperatures during the

1:55:35day and at night and then we get slapped

1:55:37with a blizzard. I mean that I've never

1:55:39seen that. I've been here almost 22

1:55:41years. So that was

1:55:43>> Yeah. I mean that's why you asked

1:55:44because it's just the same.

1:55:47>> We had we had trucks from the first

1:55:49storm that our mechanics were working on

1:55:51that wasn't ready for that list that

1:55:54just popped up.

1:55:54>> Right. Right. And that's why I asked in

1:55:57the sense that you know we're getting

1:55:58these type of weather that's been

1:56:01changing and surprising us whether it's

1:56:03in the summer or in the winter. Um so

1:56:07lesson learned while we just react to it

1:56:11and and keep doing it. uh with many of

1:56:13our professions or even even at home,

1:56:17right? We we we learn lessons and we we

1:56:18we try to change it and you made some

1:56:21recommendations here. But I think that

1:56:23if we as a city and as a body, we would

1:56:27benefit not just only now but for the

1:56:29future uh with some type of report that

1:56:32really designate what when what were the

1:56:35challenges, you know, what were the

1:56:37weakness points and I think we got some

1:56:38bits and pieces as we asked the

1:56:40questions. I think that that's

1:56:42important. Uh and I asked for that. Um

1:56:45just wanted to also in this sort of um

1:56:49months later um have we there was some

1:56:53talk about how

1:56:55like the city of New York and even upper

1:56:58uh New Hampshire, Maine, the Buffalo

1:57:00area and deal with all these type of

1:57:02snow. Have anyone looked at uh

1:57:05especially like let's say Buffalo uh how

1:57:08do they they track um their plows or how

1:57:11are they so effective in their own city?

1:57:14>> Sure.

1:57:14>> So that we can implement some things uh

1:57:17the are these part of the recommendation

1:57:21that you came about.

1:57:22>> This is why every year we go to a round

1:57:24table discussion with all like I said

1:57:26we're going tomorrow with towns and this

1:57:28is what we'll talk about and basically

1:57:30we all have the same problems. It's like

1:57:32lack of trucks, lack of good people, um

1:57:34lack of vendors,

1:57:37um it's just many things.

1:57:38>> So, in terms of Buffalo, I mean, Buffalo

1:57:41certainly gets I'm going to go on a limb

1:57:42and say they they generally get more

1:57:44snow than we get on a regular basis. So,

1:57:47they they're able to invest in some of

1:57:49those super duper machines um because

1:57:51they know they're going to use them. Um,

1:57:53I would never want to advise that that

1:57:56this city buy one of those giant

1:57:59snowblowing machines because it it in

1:58:01all likelihood it's going to sit in the

1:58:03garage and rust. Um, and and it's not

1:58:07it's just not a good use of of money. as

1:58:09the director says like I have property

1:58:11conne

1:58:14tomorrow it's like never snowed but they

1:58:16have like big machinery that they use

1:58:18all the time

1:58:18>> right the other the other piece of that

1:58:20though is there are technological

1:58:23um there are tools that other states use

1:58:27um on their existing fleets which can

1:58:29provide more information to snow ops in

1:58:33real time about I mean right now we have

1:58:35GPS on all our trucks I can tell you

1:58:37where the truck is I can't tell you if

1:58:38the plow's down or not. Um, and I can't

1:58:41see it. Um, I can just see a print out

1:58:45of where it is, but I can't literally

1:58:46see. Um, so there are opportunities, I

1:58:49think, with with cameras, uh, that can

1:58:52be used. Um, it's it's an expensive

1:58:55package of technology and it I think

1:58:56it's it's something to be more

1:58:59appropriately decided by the next

1:59:00administration as to whether that's

1:59:02where they want to spend their money,

1:59:03but there are opportunities to provide a

1:59:05much higher level of verification and

1:59:09organization of and I and I know that

1:59:11places like Buffalo use it.

1:59:14>> Uh, thank you for that. Uh, sure.

1:59:17>> How many uh, FTEES are on the DBW now?

1:59:22And are there any vacancy? And you had

1:59:25mentioned earlier in essence that when

1:59:27there's a big storm or even uh above 3

1:59:31in and if you get seven inches, you get

1:59:34to another level all hands on deck.

1:59:37>> What does that look like? And with

1:59:39quality insurance or inspectors, which

1:59:41are 15, we're indicated.

1:59:42>> Yes. Um, does that uh also adds up to

1:59:47their overtime and

1:59:50as a whole

1:59:52think I know the answer to this one but

1:59:54uh looking at these storms what do the

1:59:57these storms actually cost us

2:00:00>> as taxpayers. Mhm. So, every storm is

2:00:02different. Yeah. Obviously,

2:00:03>> but these two we only had a big

2:00:06>> people can remember.

2:00:07>> To be fair, I wouldn't want to compare I

2:00:10wouldn't want to use what these storms

2:00:12cost as any sort of guidepost because

2:00:15they were extraordinary. Um certainly

2:00:17the glaze was extraordinary. Um we were,

2:00:20you know, it was days and days and days

2:00:23and days and days um on overtime for

2:00:25most people except for the people that

2:00:28are non-union who don't get paid. And

2:00:31there were a handful of people who

2:00:34worked a week, you know, solid and

2:00:37didn't get hit. Um,

2:00:39>> so

2:00:42in terms of what each storm costs, I

2:00:44mean, I don't we could probably go back

2:00:46and and quantify that that the

2:00:48inspectors are union members. Um, and so

2:00:51they they get paid overtime and and they

2:00:54get their their wages overtime when

2:00:56they're inspecting. Um, there's just

2:00:59under 100 FTEEs at DPW. Certainly not

2:01:02all of those are people engaged in snow

2:01:04operations. They're engineers. There's

2:01:06some environmental people. there's

2:01:08administrative people that don't work

2:01:09snow. Um, highway, you have the the

2:01:13largest division um of personnel and so

2:01:17yeah that I mean and there's there's a

2:01:19healthy um allocation in the budget for

2:01:22snow that we utilize for all of it. Um

2:01:25it got blown out of the water.

2:01:27>> The park also goes on our budget also.

2:01:30So anything they do comes from us.

2:01:34>> Thank you for that. Uh the last thing is

2:01:37bridging into the parks department. Um

2:01:40well this year because of the snow

2:01:42learned that uh the parks department

2:01:44covers the ward war nine and they did a

2:01:48great job just like uh many of your

2:01:50employees uh as I

2:01:52>> as I uh went around and asked and and

2:01:56you over time if it was a extraordinary

2:01:59uh storm as he put it. Um, but I also uh

2:02:04have had time to reflect on it and to be

2:02:06able to say what do we learn from this

2:02:08and how do we actually make it better

2:02:10and and and thinking about what the

2:02:11future is is is is

2:02:15upon us whether whether we're in office

2:02:17or not. Um, but a new administration

2:02:21comes in and it's like a new learning

2:02:23curve. Richard Rich, right? Rich and

2:02:26Jel, you guys are going to be on and who

2:02:28knows, but you're also veterans on this.

2:02:32Um, and we want to make sure that not

2:02:35only did we capture this extraordinary

2:02:37storm, but at least leave something for

2:02:41this council and others to really

2:02:43evaluate what are some of the weakness.

2:02:46Um, I think one of the members said,

2:02:47"Hey, if we had the ideal budget, what

2:02:50what would that look like uh in in terms

2:02:54of of equipment

2:02:56and personnel and so forth?" So, it's

2:02:58something for us to um to think about.

2:03:01Uh, you might not have the answer now,

2:03:02but I just I think that that's that's

2:03:04really needed.

2:03:06>> Yeah, I agree a lot with that prom. Um,

2:03:08and that's why, you know, I as

2:03:10respectfully as possible push back on

2:03:11the notion of um, you know, trying not

2:03:14to compare uh the needs of with the last

2:03:18two storms. We do acknowledge that

2:03:20they're historic.

2:03:21>> Uh, but that's what has our neighbors

2:03:24um, you know, concerned as much as

2:03:26possible. You know, hopefully nothing of

2:03:29that nature uh, you know, comes this

2:03:31winter. Uh, but we can't control that.

2:03:34And unfortunately, you know, if there is

2:03:37a case where we get two of those storms

2:03:38in two weeks, uh, you know, we're going

2:03:40to be back at point A. Uh, so for us to

2:03:44at least understand what the the gaps

2:03:47are, uh, what the possibility in

2:03:50investments look like uh, so we could

2:03:53start, you know, talking among us

2:03:55colleagues and and folks in

2:03:57administration and your department.

2:03:59>> That's why it was important for us to to

2:04:01have these discussions. Uh now

2:04:04>> I think um god forbid you have this

2:04:06scenario next year then then one of the

2:04:08things that Clara brought up um which

2:04:10was really really integral and important

2:04:13is that uh Emac system that that system

2:04:16that allowed the state to share

2:04:18resources and to also you know get

2:04:20resources from other states um was

2:04:24critical to not just Providence but

2:04:26everyone that was fighting during the

2:04:28blizzard. And so, um, and I think it's

2:04:30important to to to know that because of

2:04:33what I said earlier that like you could

2:04:35run out and buy 10 huge, you know, snow

2:04:39moving machines and maybe you'll use

2:04:41them, maybe you won't, but you're going

2:04:43to spend a ton of money. Having

2:04:44agreements like that agreement that that

2:04:46uh the director of Puma talked about

2:04:48really important. Um, and so I would I

2:04:51would lean into that if you if you got

2:04:53to that point next winter.

2:04:57I I do I know it's crazy and I don't

2:05:00know necessarily you have a specific

2:05:01answer to this but do want to bring you

2:05:04spend most of our time appropriately

2:05:06talking about roads and vehicles but

2:05:08there are also the whole sidewalk

2:05:12question and so two parts the first part

2:05:16is can you walk us through whether you

2:05:19have clarity or how you have clarity

2:05:21with DOT RIPA and other entities

2:05:25But who does what part of the pandemic

2:05:28assessment?

2:05:29>> We have better clarity than we did

2:05:31before

2:05:33um this last winter. We we might have

2:05:37been hardressed to say exactly

2:05:39which sidewalks were our responsibility

2:05:42and which were the state's

2:05:44responsibility. We have better clarity

2:05:45on that. Our challenge with sidewalks

2:05:47and bike paths is um where they fall in

2:05:52that priority. They're they're down

2:05:55here. So, hills, mains, hospitals,

2:05:57schools, trash,

2:06:01bike us, and sidewalks. Um, sidewalks

2:06:04and certainly it's by ordinance, it's

2:06:06the residents responsibility to keep

2:06:08their sidewalk clear. So, we generally

2:06:11do not um deal with sidewalks. Uh but

2:06:15even for those areas where we would want

2:06:18to um it's a harsh reality. By the time

2:06:22by the time we we're done with

2:06:24everything else and get to those,

2:06:25they're usually clear or melted. And if

2:06:28they're not, we still are challenged by

2:06:31our machinery and our number of

2:06:33personnel. And so that's an area that

2:06:35council should probably look at uh next

2:06:38year is is what what kind of personnel

2:06:41is needed. We don't have the bodies. um

2:06:44especially for something at that level

2:06:46of priority. We don't have the bodies.

2:06:47We do have a Bobcat, but we don't not

2:06:50every bike path or sidewalk even lends

2:06:52itself to clearance using a Bobcat.

2:06:54Right now, we do the best we can. We do

2:06:56have very small crew that does get to

2:07:00them at the end of a storm, at the end

2:07:02of a cleanup. Um but I know it's not

2:07:05it's not um it's not something we should

2:07:07be satisfied with, but it's a challenge.

2:07:10At one time before Trish came, we did

2:07:12hire a contract that they handle all of

2:07:14the sidewalks over overpasses. Um that

2:07:16lasted one year. What happened after

2:07:18that? I don't know.

2:07:21>> So you identify it as a resource. I

2:07:23mean, I understand priority, but you

2:07:24also sound like you were identifying as

2:07:26a

2:07:26>> It's a resource issue.

2:07:28>> Definitely.

2:07:32Um quick question is is in your guys's

2:07:36opinion um if the city were to to have

2:07:41some type of you know emergency or snow

2:07:45shoveling operation um that we've seen

2:07:48in other uh cities. Is that something

2:07:50that that would be able to to be

2:07:52administered through DPW with like the

2:07:55right resources and staff to to oversee

2:07:58such such program or is that

2:08:01>> talking about volunteers or

2:08:02>> uh no paid? So, so for example, I I know

2:08:05a clear example that comes to mind is

2:08:07New York City. Uh when they experienced

2:08:10the the same blizzard, uh they had

2:08:13opportunities for residents to to go to

2:08:16I think a fire station and get uh

2:08:19equipment uh just start shoveling uh you

2:08:22know, sidewalks.

2:08:24>> That would be kind of hard.

2:08:26>> You need someone to watch over um right

2:08:30all the shovels back, whatever you need.

2:08:33She knew you were going to say

2:08:34>> that would be hard.

2:08:36>> Impossible.

2:08:39>> Nothing is important

2:08:40>> as long as you got the bodies to perform

2:08:42all this like make sure that it's all

2:08:45being ran properly and handing out the

2:08:48troubles or whatever and make sure

2:08:49they're all getting back. I I I think

2:08:51like around our you know I think there's

2:08:54opportunity to partner up with you know

2:08:56some of the the commercial corridor

2:08:59associations and stuff stuff of that

2:09:01nature where I don't think it needs to

2:09:03fall completely on the city uh but I I

2:09:06think some type of public private

2:09:08partnership might

2:09:11hire a contract to handle the overpasses

2:09:14on bridges as far as all the sidewalks

2:09:16it happened one year and I don't know

2:09:18what happened to after

2:09:20Maybe it's too much money or the

2:09:22contract just said forget about it or

2:09:26>> it's not an easy task.

2:09:29>> No, I um Yeah. Does anyone else have

2:09:32anything?

2:09:32>> Yeah. No, I was just going in the same

2:09:33line. I mean, you think about the

2:09:36downtown improvement sector. I mean,

2:09:39downtown when it snows, they're on the

2:09:42they're on and downtown is clean

2:09:45sidewalk. And so going along with what

2:09:47the chairman just indicated, um even if

2:09:50as you mentioned, we had someone like we

2:09:55have a a a program where we uh had have

2:09:59a subcontractor just like we do with uh

2:10:02mental health and or servicing uh the

2:10:05homelessness and and just to have

2:10:08already a pre-planned uh crew or a

2:10:11contractor just ready to go. I mean high

2:10:14school students when they say there's no

2:10:15school because there's no half of those

2:10:18students uh most likely well now they

2:10:21probably putting a lot of energy but I

2:10:24see in my district that they

2:10:25>> a liability

2:10:27>> but a contractor could probably handle

2:10:29>> that's what I'm saying that I think it's

2:10:31>> I know in my district the kids are

2:10:32looking for going house to house I think

2:10:35it would benefit

2:10:36>> like I said we had a contract for one

2:10:37year

2:10:40>> that was it

2:10:41>> well we I mean on that topic. Yeah, I

2:10:44know there's a few um you know neighbors

2:10:47that reached out for whatever reason

2:10:48couldn't you know physically themselves

2:10:51uh you know clear their sidewalk um and

2:10:54then by the time you know they would

2:10:56reach out to like a landscaping company

2:10:58or or

2:11:00demolition company that that does this

2:11:02type of workers

2:11:04um you know either the price is way

2:11:06outrageous um because those folks have

2:11:09their their their properties in advance

2:11:12um so I think having some type of uh

2:11:15system where you know either young

2:11:17adults or or high school students can

2:11:19send their information and we can

2:11:21connect them with those residents that

2:11:23the services on paid for it

2:11:27is their responsibility. So basically,

2:11:30you're talking about the residential

2:11:31homes. I was more referring of the

2:11:33>> city. I mean, commercial sidewalks. I

2:11:36mean, listen, I got pictures in every

2:11:38store where people seniors often in

2:11:42their in their uh, you know, walkers,

2:11:46they have to go to the streets. You

2:11:48know, inspectors are out there, you

2:11:50know, businesses are not clearing their

2:11:52sidewalks. And we it it's this it puts

2:11:56the city in a in a a very uh uh

2:12:01dangerous position in terms of

2:12:03liability. We see them with claims and

2:12:05and and suits. We see those kind of

2:12:07things. And so I think it's a viable and

2:12:09as a graduate of snow remover when I was

2:12:12a teenager, you know, I think we all did

2:12:14that as

2:12:15>> we went out there and made $50, $100. So

2:12:17I think when you see kids wanting to do

2:12:21these kind of things, I think that we

2:12:23you know we we got to keep going with

2:12:26that because we don't have the permanent

2:12:28stuff.

2:12:30>> Thank you. I I I I'll just sort of say

2:12:32here we can solve it later could we

2:12:34could be able to pull in workforce

2:12:36development um or other you know to the

2:12:39program. I think we don't have to

2:12:40necessarily come out only with a DVW

2:12:42angle, but I think it's clear that we

2:12:45have people, we have problem, and I

2:12:47think we all dealt with this. I mean, my

2:12:49husband, my son, and I shoveled a whole

2:12:51bunch of paper out ourselves. We all did

2:12:53this. We did. There was all hands on

2:12:55deck. There were also robust followers

2:12:59this winter. Um, so I think that, you

2:13:02know, again, not just DVDW, we're going

2:13:04to have to be thoughtful to help

2:13:06coordinate volunteers and some sort of

2:13:09pay effort because, you know, to the

2:13:12point acknowledge we don't have the

2:13:14resources and the sidewalks are low

2:13:15priority, but as council member said, we

2:13:18put our residents at great risk because

2:13:21of the way we handle snow. So, there's

2:13:24lots of pieces to this puzzle. uh only

2:13:27on DBW this fall that DBW is going to

2:13:30end big part of the solution.

2:13:32>> I will say that in the wake of the last

2:13:33big snowstorms last winter, we did have

2:13:36an enforcement wave for those business

2:13:39owners and and people that weren't

2:13:41clearing their sidewalks and it was

2:13:43actually pretty effective. It got

2:13:45people's attention. So to the extent

2:13:47that we're DPW is part of that equation,

2:13:49that's an important piece.

2:13:51>> Yeah.

2:13:52And that's important to know because

2:13:54that's where the reports and and

2:13:57validated to us because we're not

2:13:59hearing this about and perhaps through

2:14:02the hearings has been said and so forth.

2:14:05But I think it's something that uh

2:14:06should be left a part of the part of the

2:14:08legacy that

2:14:11uh the 2026 snow small extraordinary

2:14:14snowtorm and and business that we we

2:14:17had. Uh, councelor Anderson,

2:14:19>> I was just thinking out loud maybe just

2:14:21a coordinated communications effort

2:14:23starting relatively quickly about, you

2:14:26know, all this in conjunction with the

2:14:30administration, the DPW as well as the

2:14:33city council. Um, to be able to start

2:14:36putting that in place, I think very very

2:14:38helpful. Um, and we will be able to

2:14:41share in our community meetings and our

2:14:51I don't have any other questions anyone

2:14:53from the committee or consider

2:14:55anything else.

2:14:57>> Um well I just want to wrap up by by

2:14:59saying I uh very much uh am grateful for

2:15:02your guys's time today and all the work

2:15:04that you have done uh to get to this

2:15:07point. Um and yeah, I mean I ask you

2:15:10know any that you guys need in terms of

2:15:13resources or or you know extra uh

2:15:17political pressure or anything. Um

2:15:19please utilize us that that's what we're

2:15:21here for. We want to be uh partners as

2:15:24as much as possible. Um so yeah I mean

2:15:26this is something that impacts every

2:15:28single one of our residents. you know,

2:15:30doesn't matter where they stand on a

2:15:33political ideology or anything. If folks

2:15:35can't, you know, get out of their house

2:15:37in a timely manner or um don't believe

2:15:40that their street is being clean uh to

2:15:43their applications, um we will hear

2:15:45about it and then we'll hear about it.

2:15:47Uh so, so just in in that notion of

2:15:50being, you know, thoughtful partners as

2:15:52much as possible, uh please utilize

2:15:54those as possible.

2:15:56>> Thank you.

2:15:56>> Thank you.

2:15:57>> Thank you very much.

2:15:58>> Thank you. Um, at this time I will

2:16:00entertain a motion to

2:16:04a motion made by council Peterson,

2:16:07second by council Davidson. All those in

2:16:09favor

2:16:12citizens any discussion

2:16:16but