DPW boss, lawmakers spar over snow cleanup
Parking violators hampered plowing, superintendent says
KINGSTON, N.Y. » The Nor’easter that hit the region last week was a “perfect storm” when it came to snow-removal problems, the city’s Department of Public Works superintendent said.
Ed Norman told the Common Council’s General Government/Public Safety Committee during an online meeting this week that his department faced a number of challenges responding to the Dec. 16-17 snowstorm, including drivers who failed to comply with the city’s alternate-side parking rules during snow emergencies, which made it difficult for plows to push snow out of the way and get down narrow streets.
Norman said the alternateside parking system does not seem to be working the way it should, and he urged city lawmakers to consider alternatives. He said 500 tickets were issued during the storm and nine vehicles were towed.
“This does not help me do my job,” Norman said, urging better city communication with the public.
During declared snow emer
gencies in Kingston, onstreet parking is allowed only on the side of a street with even-numbered addresses on even dates, and only on the odd side on odd dates.
Alderwoman Michele Hirsch, D-Ward 9, said it seemed unfair to blame the public for the problems with snow removal. She asked why the Department of Public Works didn’t start plowing earlier in the storm and why the wrong sides of streets were plowed when residents were trying to comply with the parking rules. She also asked about mutual aid the city received from the state, Ulster County and the town of Ulster.
Norman said he put a plan together based on weather forecasts and had to make sure he had enough staff available to continue snow removal throughout the storm. He also said the city’s Civil Service Employees Association contract, which covers his employees, does not mandate that members accept overtime assignments.
“The CSEA contract allows people not to come in for overtime,” Norman said. “So even though it’s snowing, if there’s a state of emergency, they do not have to come in if they do not want to.”
The superintendent said he opposes that provision when it comes to snowstorms.
Norman said his department is working with a “bare-bones” staff and that he requested mutual aid as he was contractually allowed to do so.
A l der woman R ita Worthington, D-Ward 4, said that even on Monday, four days after the storm, she still was getting calls from people about snow on the city streets.
The storm dumped between 20 and 28 inches of snow on the region, and Norman said there are only so many places to put it. He said roads have to be plowed first, and then the snow has to be removed separately. That work was ongoing, he said.
Norman said it usually takes the city two or more days to fully deal with storms that dump only 4 to 6 inches of snow.
“If you look at the exponential amount of snow [from the recent storm], what do you expect?” he said.