"I apologize:" DPW officials in the hot seat, questioned by Common Council on response to winter storm

MILWAUKEE -- City of Milwaukee Department of Public Works officials on Wednesday, January 6th were in the hot seat -- questioned by members of the Milwaukee Common Council as to their response to the winter storm on December 28th that dumped nine inches of snow in Milwaukee.

DPW officials said they're sorry for the struggles people had after the storm last week left many of the city's side streets impassable.

DPW leaders suggested ways to improve in the future -- but said there's not much they could've done differently last week.

"I apologize because I feel terrible for all the inconveniences this storm had caused," Ghassan Korban, DPW commissioner said.

Korban said the DPW couldn't properly prepare for the December 28th storm.

"The weather services were predicating two inches of snow and sleet," Wanda Booker with the DPW said.

"That really precluded us from making decisions earlier on in the day," Korban said.

Instead, nine inches fell in Milwaukee.

Some aldermen said Korban's explanation isn't good enough.

"I had streets that did not get one plow until 9:00 Tuesday night. That is unacceptable and all I`m hearing from you is excuses!" Alderman Mark Borkowski said.

DPW officials offered the following timeline for December 28th:

Korban said suspending garbage collection earlier in the day wouldn't have made much of a difference.

"We`re talking about maybe an hour. I`m really not second-guessing any of our staff at this point. We`re talking about one hour, not half-a-day`s worth of decision making," Korban said.

Another criticism against the DPW is the amount of outside help from private plow drivers utilized on December 28th.

"I think that if it means we have to spend a little more money, that our citizens would say that they would prefer if that 18-24 hour window were a 9 -- there`s a cost to that -- a 9-15 hour window," Alderman Jim Bohl said.

DPW officials offered a list of suggested improvements for the future. That list includes training more drivers to plow with garbage trucks, calling for relief drivers, which could be retired or laid-off workers, resting drivers before a full-scale plowing operation, and guaranteeing work for private plow truck drivers.

DPW officials say currently, the city does not guarantee work for contractors, and by changing that, there should be more help available for the next winter storm.

Cost estimates will be provided for these proposals at a future meeting.

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