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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES-1994-01-31-1994s Af3 C1TY COUNCEL Y " January 31,1994 A SPECIAL MEETING of the Evanston City Council was held on Monday, January 31, 1994 at 9:45 P.M. in the City Council Chamber pursuant to a call by Aldermen Feldman, Holsman and Newman to discuss snow removal and the 1994-1995 Budget and the 1994-1995 Capital Improvement Program. ROLL CALL - PRESENT: Alderman Newman Alderman Drummer Alderman Guthrie Alderman Heydemann Alderman gent A Quorum being present. ABSENT: None PRESIDING: Mayor Lorraine H. Morton City Clerk Davis read the following call: Alderman Moran Alderman Engelman Alderman Holsman Alderman Feldman NOTICE SPECIAL EVANSTON CITY COUNCIL MEETING We, the undersigned Aldermen hereby are calling a special meeting of the CityCouncil for January 31,1994 at 9:00 p.m. to discuss the following items: A. Snow Removal Program B. The 1994-1995.Budget and 1994-1995 Capital Improvement Program Signed: Art Newman, Jon Holsman and Gene Feldman (by A.N.) Alderman Feldman said that he bad received four ells from constituents with complaints about the City's snow removal efforts during the last storm on the previous Wednesday night and Thursday and reported those complaints in detail, especially those about the poor condition of Ridge Avenue on Thursday morning. He felt that Chicago and other suburbs had done a better job with their snow removal efforts. He also reported that a constituent had called the City and was told by an employee that the reason that the snow removal efforts were bad were because of the quality of salt that the aldermen had purchased. The employee urged the citizen to call his alderman and then hung up. Alderman Feldman felt that such conduct was inexcusable. Alder Holsman said that his concerns about snow removal were similar to those of Alderman Feldman. Alderman Newman said that he did not feel compelled to explain why he put his signature to this call. 2 January 31, 1994 *t: _ Mayor Morton said that what she was trying to do was to establish procedures and parameters for the discussion, clarify why this meeting was called and move to address the issues as expeditiously as possible. Alderman Newman said that he was concerned with the general effectiveness of the City's snow removal program and noted that aldermen have no ability to tell city employees to plow certain streets. He felt that the City was not getting the job done and he wanted it to have as good a program as its neighbors. He felt that Skokie and Chicago had done�a,better job=during this -last. storm and expressed great dissatisfaction with snow removal efforts on Ridge. He said that he wanted his constituents to know that he was not satisfied with the City's recent snow removal efforts. He asked 1) how many trucks the City has that are equipped to remove snow and spread salt; 2) how many were working that night; 3) when they started; 4) what streets they plowed before Ridge Avenue; and 4) asked the City Manager to provide a proposal to make Evanston's service at least as good as its neighbors. He said that if there weren't enough people or equipment, that needs to be addressed. He said that he had no ability to get any streets plowed and was at the mercy of staff. He also questioned why side streets had not been plowed. Mayor Morton surveyed the Council on the number of calls they had received complaining about snow removal. Aldermen Engelman, Guthrie, Heydemamn, Kent, Moran and Drummer reported they had received no calls. Alderman Feldman reported four calls, Alderman Holsman five calls and Alderman Newman two calls. City Manager Anderson reported that he had traveled to adjacent suburbs and Chicago -on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and found that the side streets in Skokie were no better than those in Evanston, the main streets of Skokie, which are plowed by the state, were no better than Ridge. He said that Chicago's main streets were better than Ridge Avenue. He explained that there was a problem with the amount of salt available on Wednesday, so the City modified its use of salt early Thursday morning. He said that you can't put down salt and then plow, if you don't know whether you will have enough salt to spread following the plowing and you have a forecast for freezing rain. The salt has to be left there, so you don't have glare ice. He thought it was a proper decision and felt that the Public Works Department had done a good job under very difficult circumstances. He said that he had been unaware that a constituent had received a response such as the one described by Alderman Feldman and asked to be notified immediately if something like that ever occurs again, so he can take immediate action to determine who it is and deal with it. He said that reporting the incident several days later, and without a name, makes it very difficult to follow up. He said that it is the City's commitment to provide better customer service than that and urged the aldermen to let him know immediately if they become aware of a similar incident, so he can take steps to correct it. Director of Public Works Barber said that the City has had difficulty with the quality of salt for the streets. The City has been working with the supplier to solve that problem. He believed that Chicago was experiencing a similar problem. He noted that on the evening news they called attention to the problem of a severe shortage of road salt being experienced both locally and in the entire Midwest region. Last Wednesday night, the City was down to its last eight to ten truck -loads of salt and he made a decision to not salt during the night, but to save the salt to put down before rush hour began so the City would realize its maximum effectiveness with traffic. He noted that Schaumburg and Elgin ran out of salt and that Skokie almost ran out of salt, saving it for intersections. He said that he was able to purchase 80 tons of salt from the City of Chicago on Wednesday night and had to hire private contractors to haul it to Evanston. As of Wednesday night the City was behind 50 truckloads of salt that had been ordered weeks before (about 2000 tons). About 200 tons of that order have been delivered and the City has contracted with private contractors to deliver an additional 113 loads (2260 tons) of salt. Currently, the salt dome holds about 700 tons of salt. The City has used over 1500 tons of salt on the streets since Thursday. He pointed out that, with the low supply of salt and uncertainty about when it could be replaced, he made a decision to spread the salt just before the rush hour and allow the brine solution to stay on the streets, because he felt that it was safer to drive on slush -covered streets than on glare ice. No side streets were salted, just intersections and the hills leading up to Ridge Avenue. With the new deliveries of salt, all the side streets have been salted. He noted that Chicago's side streets were in the same condition as ours. Plowing of many side streets can only be done in a snow emergency when cars are required to observe alternate side parking. The amount of snow that fell during that storm was not sufficient to declare a snow emergency under the City Code. He noted that the department has been working around the clock since Wednesday and has plowed side streets where conditions permit. He explained that sometimes the way cars are parked on side streets, they park in such a way that a plow can't even go down the middle of the street. The streets can only be cleared curb to curb when the City declares a snow emergency and January 31, 1994 tows cars. He also pointed out that most of the major streets in Skokie are plowed by the state and Skokie is only responsible for side streets. Skokie also has the luxury of having much more off-street parking than Evanston, so plowing is easier. He said that Skokie did not salt side streets because they did not have enough salt available. Mr. Barber noted that an ice storm presents significantly different problems than a snow storm. He said that plowing in an ice storm is almost useless and did not become productive until rush hour traffic over the salt helped to melt the ice. You need traffic to make road salt function. Ice will coat the salt until traffic helps break it down. He felt that the City did as well as it could under the circumstances. Without two inches of snow they could not invoke the snow route parking ban or, without four inches, a snow emergency. He pointed out that as the Code is written, the City can't go in and just start moving cars. Alderman Drummer reported that he had been aware of the salt problem because he had seen a news program about it and said that it stems from the Mississippi floods the previous summer and the freezing of the river this winter, which has prevented barges carrying salt from getting to the upper Midwest. He asked whether the aldermen who had problems had called the City Manager or the Director of Public Works. He explained that during other years, he had done so when constituents called with snow removal complaints and his problems were handled promptly. He also noted that he told his constituents to make sure their neighbors observed alternate side parking. He noted that he had been traveling all over the suburban area for business during the last few days and was relieved each time he came back to Evanston because the streets appeared to be in better shape than other suburbs. He felt Mr. Barber had thoroughly laid out the problems the City faced and felt that the Public Works Department had done an excellent job under the circumstances. City Manager Anderson and Public Works Director Mr. Barber responded to several questions from Alderman Newman relative to what other suburbs did during this period and detailed the number and types of trucks that the City had on the streets Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Mr. Barber clarified that fourteen trucks are sufficient to cover all the routes in Evanston. Alderman Holsman said that he had been unaware of the salt shortage problem and realized that staff had scrambled to deal with it. He expressed surprise that he and Alderman Feldman seemed to be the only ones with problems in their wards. In response to another question, Mr. Barber clarified that a snow emergency is declared if there is a four inch accumulation of snow and ice and noted that if the accumulation was only ice, it would not be safe to be on the streets. He also clarified that it was a conscious decision to leave slush on Ridge because it made for safer travel, given the problem with the amount of salt available at that point in time to deal with a freezing rain. He detailed the problems the City had in getting the salt that was promised by suppliers and other communities. He said that the City currently has about 700 tons of salt in the salt dome, more is on order, but there is a great deal of competition from other communities for salt. Many of other suburbs did not go to the extraordinary measures Evanston did to obtain salt, so with the current supplies, it is further down on the list than those communities which ran out. The amount of salt now on hand should get the City through most storms, but not one like the one that happened on the previous Thursday. Alderman Feldman said that contrary to the concept that everything went fine, what we have heard is that we salted less that we would like, and because the shortage of salt, major arteries were not plowed. He said that was what he had been complaining about in the beginning and what he did not have available was an explanation, which is the reason for the agenda item and discussion. What he thought he was hearing was that his constituents and those of Alderman Holsman were fantasizing because the other aldermen's wards were fine and were better than Skokie and other places. Therefore, the people who called him were hallucinating. He felt Council should get together to solve the problem and see if there is any way to change the system, so the people of the Eight and Ninth Wards would be satisfied with snow removal. He felt that he was being told that there was no problem. He also felt that for each call he received, there were many people who were upset, who didn't the telephone. He felt that the fact that aldermen didn't receive calls was either because all of their constituents were satisfied, or that they simply didn't call. He did not feel this was a question of blame, but one of problem solving. He felt that what was being said was that there was no issue, and we shouldn't be here discussing it. But what was heard here tonight was that the salt was no good and that the City did not plow on Ridge Avenue - the very street he complained about. He said that he had enough input from his constituents and enough visual evidence to indicate to him that there was something not satisfactory and he wanted an explanation. He said that Council did not get the answer about how many trucks were out, what time they went out, etc. He asked for help solving this problem. 4 January 31,1994 City Manager Anderson said that he was sorry that Alderman Feldman heard the explanation he and Mr. Barber had given as saying that there was not a problem. What was meant to be conveyed was that the problems experienced on the main artedea were part of a larger problem that extended throughout the suburbs and had as it source some decisions that had to be made given the salt supply. It was not a set of decisions that staff would normally lice to make. If you have enough salt, normally you plow and then you re -salt. It did not mean that staff thought it deserved the seat of approval, but the situation called for some difficult decisions, which he believed were made very well. It wasn't done the way staff would like to do it, but the best the City could do given the circumstances. He promised to give Council more details on. the number of trucks available and the fleet. Mr. Anderson noted that one thing the Council could do that would help in this matter and that is to support the bond issue in the Capital Improvement Plan for Fleet Services. In that proposal there are a number of vehicles that will replace some of the older vehicles in the City's fleet. He said that it is a major problem for the people driving the trucks and the supervisors, when there is a snow storm and the folks who are called out to do the plowing are faced with obsolete, rusted -out vehicles that have no heat. The trucks end up in the shop and can't be used on the street. He urged Council to give full consideration to the request for that bond issue because it will allow the City to move forward to purchase more reliable equipment, and thus a be able to provide more reliable snow removal. He also noted that the City is in the process of modifying its salt bid to have more than one source of supply and more than one way to get the salt. The City is looking into having one price for salt delivered and one price for salt picked up. It is hoped that this can be worked out with a couple of vendors. He pointed out that the City was in a situation that could have gotten a lot worse and he complimented Mr. Barber and Director of Streets and Sanitation, Zeltee Edwards for that fact that it didn't get worse and the City did not find itself, like some other suburbs, without salt. What he was working to do was to change the system, so that type of quick action would not become necessary again. Alderman Feldman and Mr. Anderson discussed their attempts to reach each other on Thursday. Alderman Feldman said he would appreciate knowing about any change in the level of service, for whatever reason, so he could provide that information to his constituents when they call. He felt that they would have understood if they had been told that there were serious constraints on the City that day. Mr. Anderson reiterated that he had returned Alderman Feldman's call about noon on Thursday, and would have explained the circumstances, but was unable to reach him and did not receive another call back. Alderman Heydemann felt that all of the issues discussed this evening could have been discussed at any time and did not require a special meeting. The questions and the answers have all been about the techniques involved in dealing with a totally rotten winter. The normal techniques have not been up to the extraordinary demands on them. Adjustments and compensations have been made. However, requests for information should be between whoever needs the information and the staff that has it. She did not believe that this situation called for a meeting. She noted that she had a question from a constituent and she sought out the Y'r "r ,'a: to staff person, received an explanation and was able to relay it to her constituent and any others who called with the same question. She felt that she did not know how to remove snow and ice as well as staff does and felt she should leave the technical details to them. She reserved the right to question them when actions taken did not seem sufficient to deal with a situation. Otherwise she felt that staff should make the professional decisions that Council is paying them to make. Alderman Guthrie noted that both the Human Services and Planning and Development Committees had very full agendas this evening and Human Services had to cut off its meeting to attend this one. She noted that the City had an extraordinary weather situation this past week and felt that staff did what they could to deal with it. In looking at the second item on the call for the meeting, she noted that there are four more Saturdays in February with which to deal with that item and moved that Council adiourn. Seconded by Alderman Drummer. Roll call on the move to adjourn. Voting aye, Heydemann, gent, Moran, Engelman, Drummer and Guthrie. Voting nay - Holsman, Feldman and Newman. Motion carried (6-3) and the Council adjourned at 10:35 P.M. KIRSTEN F. DAVIS CITY CLERK