Councilors frustrated with the city’s response to a winter storm spent more than an hour grilling Indianapolis Department of Public Works officials during a recent committee meeting.
Several city councilors said they’ve spent the past two weeks fielding calls from constituents frustrated that their residential streets remained unplowed more than a week after a major winter storm. Some residents haven’t had their trash picked up in two weeks, because the big garbage trucks can’t even get through.
The early January storm dumped about 8 inches of snow in Marion County, and another batch of snow the following weekend brought several more inches, worsening road conditions.
Sam Beres, Indy DPW interim director, and Natalie van Dongen, deputy director of policy and planning, detailed the department’s snow removal policy and its response to the January snowstorm in a Jan. 16 presentation to the Public Works Committee.
They defended a decision to change the city’s snow removal policy in 2020 to shift away from hiring contractors to remove snow on residential streets except in certain situations. They said weather conditions earlier this month did not warrant activating contractors. While there was a lot of snow, DPW officials said the smaller trucks used by contractors might have only been able to remove the top layer, leaving the streets covered in ice.
But many councilors left the meeting more frustrated than when they arrived.
“I came into this meeting pretty angry, and I’m far angrier after seeing this presentation, quite frankly,” said Jesse Brown, a Democrat who represents parts of the east side.
A change in policy
Prior to 2020, Indy DPW operated under a 6-inch rule, which meant that if at least 6 inches of snow accumulated in Marion County, the department would hire contractors to plow residential streets that normally go untouched.
In 2020, after going five years with only one major winter storm, the department made an internal policy change to abandon that rule and instead prioritize major city thoroughfares (think Washington Street, Keystone Avenue, Fall Creek Parkway) followed by clearing secondary streets known as connectors. Examples include Southeastern Avenue, Mitthoeffer Road and Emerson Avenue. If conditions warranted, contractors would be hired to plow residential streets.
But there’s no hard-and-fast rule for when to call contractors, and many councilors felt doing so was warranted after the city was hit with 8 inches of snow despite DPW’s concerns about leaving icy conditions.
The change in policy was communicated five years ago through social media and news outlets, but some councilors said the department should have reminded the public about the policy change prior to the recent snow event.
Beres said DPW considered several factors when deciding not to send city plows or hire contractors to treat denser residential areas.
Why some streets were left alone
In some cases, plowing a top layer of snow could leave a street covered in a sheet of ice, making driving conditions worse, Beres said.
Many residential streets are too narrow for the city’s 11-foot plows, he added, and contractors end up pushing snow onto vehicles and sidewalks. In fact, when the department hired private contractors to respond to a 2021 storm, DPW received complaints about property damage to vehicles and mailboxes, Beres said.
“There are tradeoffs associated with calling contractors,” Beres said.
But that logic didn’t jive with councilors.
“There are dozens and dozens of contractors the city uses. They all have a risk of liability,” said Dan Boots, an attorney and Democrat who represents parts of the north side. “To me, it’s not a reason and not a legitimate basis for not hiring contractors.”
Brown criticized the DPW officials for what he perceived to be a lack of accountability.
“I feel like you’re not listening, and you’re just totally disconnected from what the people in the city are experiencing,” Brown said.
Councilor Josh Bain, a Republican who represents the southwest side, said he spoke with neighboring communities in surrounding counties that had no issues clearing residential streets.
Members of the council from both political parties say they are exploring changes to the city’s current policy.
“There will be a vote on something,” Bain said.
Calls for change
Councilors also questioned whether Indianapolis has enough plows to adequately remove the snow for such a large city.
The city has 107 plows. During the snow response, Indy DPW had at least 70 plows on the road at any one time, which many councilors felt was inadequate to cover the city’s 8,400 lane miles. The rest of the plows are kept out of service to respond to other issues, such as car crashes and power outages.
Suburban cities appear to have had an easier time clearing the streets, but they dedicate more resources to removing snow, comparatively speaking. The city of Noblesville, for example, has 22 plows to cover 600 lane miles, while the city of Fishers has 45 plows to cover 1,200 lane miles. The city of Carmel has 20 salt trucks and about 70 plows to cover 1,440 lane miles.
That means that Noblesville and Fishers have one plow on the roads for roughly every 25 lane miles, and in Carmel one for every 16 lane miles, whereas Indy had one on the road for about every 120 lane miles.
Brown said that due to the state road funding formula, he believes Indianapolis doesn’t receive an equitable share of road funding dollars. That’s because the state’s road funding formula doesn’t take into account the number of lanes in a roadway.
He said his constituents have expressed anger and frustration with the city’s response.
“I just want you to understand how upset people are before there’s pitchforks outside of Lugar Plaza.”
A correction was made on January 27, 2024: A previous version of this article misstated the number of salt trucks and lane miles in the city of Carmel.
Peter Blanchard covers local government. Reach him at 317-605-4836 or peter.blanchard@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @peterlblanchard.
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