LYNN — The city faces a possible snow-plow shortage for the upcoming winter season, the Department of Public Works commissioner warned the City Council on Tuesday night.
Public Works Commissioner Andrew Hall said that Lynn has 187 snow-plow contracts on standby for this year, which is below the yearly average amount of contracts the city typically has. He said he has reached out to vendors for potential hires and additional three-quarter-pound pick-up trucks, but found that vendors were also short on drivers and trucks.
“On average, the City of Lynn has around 250 snow plows ready to go,” Hall said. “This year, we are almost 100 short.”
Ward 2 Councilor Richard Starbard asked Hall if the shortage of contractors is connected to their pay. In 2020, the city paid workers anywhere from $75 to $190 an hour for equipment and trucks that remove large amounts of snow.
Starbard asked if the city has raised its hourly pay for this upcoming year, saying that other adjacent towns and cities have done so.
Hall said the city raised the pay from $75 to $77 this year.
“A couple of bucks an hour probably doesn’t move the needle,” Starbard said. “Why not kick it up?”
Ward 7 Councilor John “Jay” Walsh suggested moving cars to one side of the street to improve plowing quality.
Hall said it could help with clearing streets, but “the problem is that people need a place to park their cars.”
Hall was asked about the possibility of using equipment from other departments, such as trucks from the Lynn Water & Sewer Commission. Hall said their equipment is limited, but it is possible to use some of their drivers.
Last year, the city had a major snowstorm in mid-December. The Department of Public Works had only 173 contract workers to plow the snow, which resulted in poor clearing of main streets such as Boston Street and lackluster salting of other roads.
City Council President Darren Cyr said the city did a “lousy job” last year and did not want to make the same mistakes again as the winter season starts.
Cyr asked Hall if a possible solution would be to call the contractors early to prepare for a sudden storm.
Hall said that snow routes for the upcoming season are final and that even if a storm arrived early, changing the snow routes would not speed up response time for plows.
“The snow routes are all planned out,” Hall said. “Even if they changed, it would not do much.”
Despite their worries, city councilors said they will try to find more suggestions to help remedy the shortage, with Cyr saying they need to be prepared for anything this year.
“We need to get the call out to our drivers,” said Cyr. “We don’t want to be caught with our proverbial pants down.”
