The back-to-back storms that dropped nearly four feet of snow on Everett in late January and February cost the city about $627,000, and the first one would have gone smoother if plow trucks had not been pulled off their routes to dig out a school, the city’s new public works director told the City Council’s Government Operations Committee on Thursday, March 5.
Robert Knox, a month into the job after years in Malden, gave the breakdown. The first storm, counted from January 25 through February 6, cost $425,000: $78,000 in DPW labor, $92,000 for contractors, $36,000 in salt and $217,000 to haul snow away from Ferry, Broadway, Main, Norwood, Chelsea, Edith and Elm streets. The second, an 18-inch storm, cost $202,867. “No city or town around here spends as much money and resources on removing snow as Everett,” he said. “The only one that would’ve removed as much snow as us would be Boston.” The city runs 19 plow routes in four sections, about a dozen streets per truck. “You’re not going to ever keep up,” he said. “The goal is to keep it open.”
Councilor Peter Pietrantonio asked about the first storm. “We did get called and had to take equipment off the street to respond to schools that didn’t have adequate amounts of resources,” Knox said. “In the Lafayette area, we took trucks off to try to help out with the school.” Asked if that hurt the cleanup: “That area definitely suffered because of it.” Schools handle their own lots and sidewalks through their own vendors, he said. Some workers were on duty “30 plus hours.” Operations manager Scott Martinelli “was there for three days straight around the clock” before Knox sent him home. Pietrantonio, who has plowed himself, said: “It’s nice having a real DPW director.”
Towing and tickets
Parking enforcement Sgt. Joseph Gaff said both storms fell on a Sunday, which complicates towing on Broadway because of churches and restaurants. The first storm’s snow arrived four hours early. “We towed every street by two,” he said: 355 tickets and 222 cars towed, so many that “we also ran out of room in the tow companies.” The second time crews started 12 hours ahead; 372 tickets, three tows. He said the governor’s emergency declaration for the second storm freed CDL drivers from hour limits, “so I don’t know why she didn’t declare a storm emergency the first time.” Buried cars do not get towed at 48 hours as the ordinance says; they go on an abandoned-vehicle spreadsheet, get a notice, and are towed after a week with no response.
Inspectional Services Director David Palumbo said his crews removed 861 space savers between the two storms, gave verbal warnings to people shoveling into the street and wrote 58 tickets totaling $3,135 to repeat offenders. His department can only ticket 12 hours after a snow emergency is lifted and cannot tag cars. “If we are going to issue fines and violations in a monetary way, we would have to not wait 12 hours,” he said. Councilor Stephanie Martins objected to shortening it: “I don’t want to go out in the middle of the snow myself and start shoveling.” Chair Holly Garcia reminded residents that space savers are not allowed and that the noise ordinance is not enforced against plows.
Call 311
Councilor Michele Capone asked for a snow hotline. Gaff and Knox said all calls now go to 311, where a live spreadsheet is triaged and sent to DPW supervisors. Martins asked for multilingual tow announcements and an easier way to find the list of teenage shovelers; Knox said liability questions were never resolved and it should be worked out before next winter. The committee sent both items back to their sponsors. Salt trucks went out that night for a small storm Knox expected to “burn off with salt.”
