Snow Plowing Debate Airs Grievances, Floats Ideas

City of Milwaukee garbage truck with attached snow plow trying to clear the street. Photo taken February 12th, 2019 by Jeramey Jannene.

Wednesday’s Public Works Committee meeting at Milwaukee City Hall might well have served as the city’s Festivus party. The council members in attendance certainly didn’t miss the airing of the grievances. And the Department of Public Works leaders completed their feats of strength by finding several different ways to pledge to do a better job plowing snow while the threat of having less money to do it hung over their heads.

At issue is DPW’s plowing performance during a Dec. 19 snowstorm where up to 4.5 inches of snow fell.

The nearly two-hour debate, with 12 of the 14 council members and several plow drivers in attendance, revealed that there are actually several underlying issues council members want addressed. One of them is possible options to refund the city’s snow-and-ice removal fee, which costs the average homeowner $50 annually.

“Residents are okay paying a reasonable fee to get a reasonable service,” said Alderman Peter Burgelis. But he said residents of his southwest side district see their streets covered with an inch of snow while neighboring streets in different municipalities were clear.

Much of the tension present in the meeting clearly came from the complaints council members say they receive when it snows.

“I’m sick and tired of taking the heat from my constituents that say ‘my alderman sucks, my street isn’t plowed,” said Ald. Lamont Westmoreland.

“Our citizens think we run the snow plowing operation and they think we have the ability to redirect trucks, stop trucks, start trucks,” said Ald. Robert Bauman. “They do not accept our correct answer that ‘no, all of that is under the control of the administration.'”

But beyond the criticism from constituents, each council member seems to have their own concerns.

For Westmoreland, it’s the fact that several emails to DPW operations director Danielle Rodriguez and Commissioner Jerrel Kruschke went unanswered, while he learned that emails that came after his were answered. “I’m okay with getting answers I don’t want, as long as I can get answers,” said the northwest side alderman. Rodriguez, who attended Wednesday’s meeting, was out on leave during the snowstorm for a medical procedure. She told the committee she responded to emails during the storm as she could, but admitted it was a “misstep” not to have someone assigned to communicate as she usually does and to make it clear she was forwarding urgent emails to the appropriate people. Kruschke said he was focused on getting the complaints entered into the system and should have acknowledged to council members when he did so.

For Council President José G. Pérez, his frustration is that the discussion seems an annual event. “Every year, we have problems with snow. This is somewhat repetitive,” said the council president. He said the answers for why keep changing, such as short staffing or limited experience, but the issue persists. Rodriguez stressed that every storm is different.

Ald. Andrea Pratt is concerned about the lack of equipment she observed working in her district. “I got a lot of calls,” she said, but was only able to find one plow while driving around. Rodriguez said DPW continues to evaluate plowing strategies, including the judgment call of when to pivot off of main streets. “We will be in residential streets earlier when it calls for that,” said the operations director. She said the city would increase its use of standby drivers to provide a more prompt response, even though it could be more costly.

Bauman’s concern is illegal parking and leaf collection, two issues he raised before it even snowed. “Common sense coordination,” he said, is lacking in how the city tackles enforcing parking regulations and collecting leftover leaf piles in the street. DPW officials said they continue to work with the IT department to improve constituent-facing reporting services.

For Ald. Larresa Taylor, it’s the lack of cameras and GPS equipment on the trucks. She said police have body cameras and trucks should have them too. Cities such as Chicago show the real-time position of their equipment during storms. Kruschke and Rodriguez said cameras will be in place next winter, and that currently 80% of trucks have cameras and GPS equipment installed as part of a pilot study. It’s been a “game-changer,” said the commissioner, even without the full capability to analyze the data. Expected information includes the amount of salt being deployed, something the city wants to reduce to avoid runoff into Lake Michigan.

For Burgelis, it’s how the fee is levied, in addition to the service itself. Currently, each foot of frontage costs a property owner $1.15. “Is that equitable to charge the same amount of snow and ice control fee for someone that gets plowed once as opposed to someone that gets plowed a dozen times,” he asked. Burgelis, as DPW officials confirmed, said the city aggressively cleared the main streets, but left residential side streets. The timing of the storm, which ended during the morning commute window, resulted in the side streets having an inch or two of packed down snow and ice said Rodriguez. He said he would like DPW officials to study other ways to levy the fee. The council could also consider partially refunding the 2025 fee.

Snow Plowing Fee and a Possible Refund

The city levies the snow-and-ice charge as a fee rather than as part of the property tax levy because fees go to all property owners, regardless of whether it’s a million-dollar mansion or a tax-exempt church. It also allows the city to sidestep concerns about property tax levy limits.

“I think the tax burden is most equitable from property taxes. If that’s the value of your property, that’s what you pay,” said Burgelis. He suggested mechanisms be explored to change the fee.

“That’s something we have to look into further in consultation with the City Attorney,” said budget director Nik Kovac.

“If you did not get service for snow and ice control in front of your property, what would it take to issue a check for $3.42?” asked Burgelis, noting it was his bigger question.

“This budget is balanced in part with $11.3 million in anticipated revenue from the snow and ice fee, so the administration is not prepared to recommend a refund of that fee because you would immediately create a mid-year or early-year budget hole,” said Kovac.

“I think there are mechanisms by which you could do this,” said independently-elected Comptroller Bill Christianson.

“It’s possible, we’re just not recommending it,” said Kovac.

“Is the city allowed to charge a fee for a service they did not provide?” asked Burgelis.

But DPW officials insisted, despite the criticism, that every street was plowed. Similarly, the street lighting fee is levied even if street lights on the block are out.

Council members pushed for better information on how the fee can be changed.

“If you tell us twice, ‘you better do it,’ we’ll look into it. We don’t want to look into it,” said Kovac to laughter.

Equipment Issues

The Dec. 19 storm saw 107 breakdowns for the approximately 100 trucks in service. An average downtime of 1.5 hours was encountered. Kruschke said “breakdown” ranged from a windshield wiper needing a fast replacement to a transmission failing.

The city was budgeted to buy four new trucks in both 2022 and 2023 and six new trucks in 2024. But there were delays. “The 2022 and 2023 trucks were not purchased and were delayed and purchased in 2024,” said Kruschke, who confirmed they have now been purchased. “We had gone through a turnover in the fleet section.”

“I think the drivers would have appreciated new trucks,” said Burgelis.

Kruschke said next winter 20% of the fleet will be new.

How Residents Can Help and Report Issues

The city’s expectation is to have plowed on the middle of side streets within 18 to 24 hours of snowfall ending and “curb-to-curb” plowing completed within 48 hours. But that’s contingent on motorists legally parking their vehicles, something multiple council members said wasn’t happening and wasn’t being enforced.

If the plowing deadlines aren’t being met, Rodriguez and Kruschke said it is most helpful to report issues by calling 414-286-CITY (2489) or using the council’s Mobile Action website or mobile application. The issues then end up in a ticket system that is distributed to drivers. That is where requests from council members ultimately end up, said Kruschke. Rodriguez said DPW would provide additional training to council members and their aides about how to field requests and set expectations.

Kruschke said citizens should report things like wind-caused snow drifts or large areas of snow that may have been missed after the 24-hour mark. “We want to address those,” he said. “We are all not perfect by any means.”

Gold-Plated Streets You Can Eat Off Of?

Bauman, Burgelis and others would like to see another option presented: what would it cost to fund a snow-plowing operation that ensures every street is cleared quickly and thoroughly?

“I wish we could have every single snowflake off the road in five hours,” said Kruschke.

However, council members want an idea of what it would cost, so they can offer it to constituents. “Gold-plated, eat-off-the-pavement level of snow service,” said Bauman. “And give them that choice.”

“It will cost about three times as much,” said Kruschke, which would push the cost per average homeowner to $150 annually. There are also logistical considerations, he said, such as the need for 100 additional trucks. Those trucks, said Kruschke, would sit idle during the summer, while the existing fleet is repurposed to pick up garbage and myriad other public works functions.

The discussion did not include any mention of sidewalks, which are left to residents and property owners to clear. Bauman, during earlier iterations of the annual plowing debate, had asked DPW officials to come up with an estimate of creating a municipal shoveling workforce.

For more on how the city plows, see our January 2020 inside look at the city’s snow plowing operations.