Following a winter storm that left streets covered in ice for days, the Worcester City Council is working to make changes to this winter’s snow removal.
On Tuesday, the City Council is expected to vote on pay increases, according to the agenda.
Chief Human Resources Officer William Bagley Jr. has requested increased hourly rates of about $3 per hour for snow customer service representative, snow inspector, snow supervisor and winter operations coordinator when its outside normal working hours, which was supported by City Manager Eric D. Batista.
The snow customer service representative hour rates would change from from $43.95 to $46.64, snow inspector pay would change from $50.76 to 53.87, snow supervisor pay would increase from $60.29 to $63.96 and winter operations coordinator would increase from $68.28 to $72.44.
On Feb. 16, a winter storm brought as much as 8 inches of snow to parts of Massachusetts. Starting Saturday, Feb. 15, the Worcester Department of Public Works and Parks crews were out putting out sand and salt, which continued into Monday and focused “on hills and main routes,” Tom Matthews, a spokesperson for Batista, previously said in a statement.
On Feb. 20, five days after the storm, some residents told MassLive that icy streets were still creating dangerous conditions. To address these problems, public works crews were “focused on responding to requests that have been sent in via 311,” Matthews told MassLive on Feb. 20.
Batista, who spoke to the city council during a February meeting, said Worcester “missed the mark” on this storm and that the city needs to improve operations.
“We need to do a better job,” Batista said.
District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj said she was “bombarded” with many questions from residents about how to get help from the city to clear their streets.
“I was elected to be a City Council member but this past snowstorm, I felt like I was another arm of DPW in District 5,” Haxhiaj said.
Council Vice Chairman and City Councilor-at-Large Khrystian King said, “It’s very clear that we were caught with our pants down.”
Batista also said the city was working hard to incentivize vendors, especially mechanics, to fill the vacant positions, which he said were about 90 vacancies in the Department of Public Works last winter.
The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
