City talks snow removal plans, timeline for public works base

When significant snow blankets Pittsburgh again, residents should see more plow trucks, extended hours at the 311 call center and perhaps a more effective de-icer on the roads.

“And we’re going to make sure that every street in the City of Pittsburgh is treated within 24 hours,” said Dan Gilman, Mayor Bill Peduto’s chief of staff, outlining planned improvements Wednesday after snowy, icy road conditions drew hundreds of complaints since last week.

Mr. Peduto vowed Tuesday thatthe city would do better in clearing the streets. By the next morning, city officials converged to discuss “an A-toZ coverage of how we handle snow,”Mr. Gilman said.

He said the administration now has a roughly 25point plan to avoid a treacherous recurrence, including updated plow routes and equipment changes to take effect next season. More immediate measures should feature a tighter timeline for snow removal, better communication to deploy city workers and revised work rules and practices to help the entire process, according to the administration.

Mr. Gilman said the city needs to have 25 to 30 more trucks running amid a snowfall — up from around 60 that were often out during the Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend.

“I need more drivers on the street, and whether it’s voluntary or it’s mandated, we’re going to get there,” Mr. Gilman said. He said the administration will work with unions that represent public works employees.

“And we’re going to make sure that every street in the City of Pittsburgh is treated within 24 hours.” — Dan Gilman, Mayor Bill Peduto’s chief of staff, outlining planned improvements Wednesday after snowy, icy road conditions drew hundreds of complaints since last week.

Two of those unions did not immediately comment late Wednesday.

Mr. Peduto said the city hadn’t kept up with snowfall in the most recent storm because “we didn’t have enough trucks on the road.”

“We didn’t have enough people willing to take overtime,” the mayor said in his Downtown office. He said he wasn’t blaming workers — “especially not those who showed up for work” — and that the city needs to rework standard staffing levels for snow removal.

Further, Mr. Peduto said, city practices keep supervisors from ordering people into work before exhausting a thorough call list of union members. He cited concern that some leaders “have not taken the initiative to lead by example” by volunteering for overtime.

“The accountability factor has not been there in the past. The work rules and the way that we have reached out for workers have not been effective nor efficient,” Mr. Peduto said, pledging change.

Also Wednesday, city officials said they will find a new site soon for the Division 4 public works headquarters. The former headquarters in Knoxville recently closed amid building safety concerns, temporarily sending some two dozen workers — including plow drivers — to neighboring facilities.

Mr. Peduto thinks the closure’s effect on road conditions had been minimal, he said. A bigger problem, he argued, was that a number of drivers from Division 4 didn’t work over the weekend. The city doesn’t know why they didn’t show up, Mr. Peduto said.

Council members Theresa Kail-Smith and Anthony Coghill, who represent western and southern neighborhoods, have cited consistent concerns with the Division 4 closure. By July, the city will finalize a new headquarters location somewhere in the southern neighborhoods, according to the administration.

A construction budget has yet to be set. Mike Gable, the public works director, said it’ll probably cost at least $2 million. He projected square footage perhaps around 20,000 to house trucks, locker rooms, equipment and other necessities.

“As we saw over this past weekend,having our drivers come from different areas of the city caused drastic delays in service to some of our hilliest neighborhoods in South Pittsburgh,” Mr. Coghill said in a statement. “By reopening this division, the city can assure that the hard-working men and women of the fourth division can provide coverage for our residents’ basic needs in [council] District 4.”