Anchorage Assembly members told an Anchorage Daily News reporter they were not informed about the shortage of snow plow operators, but the record shows otherwise.
The mayor’s office told the Assembly in October it would need more funds for snow clearing this winter, due to higher fuel costs and other cost drivers. The Assembly was also told there is a serious shortage of workers. Later, the Assembly was told that even with more money for plowing, there are just not enough workers.
No one knew, in October or November, that there would be an historic snowfall in early December that would coincide with the historic challenge of getting licensed commercial truck operators.
“We weren’t briefed on this situation,” Assemblywoman Meg Zaletel falsely told the newspaper. The Assembly has been told on the record and in writing that there is a shortage of workers. During the budget work sessions with the Assembly in October, Public Works Director Lance Wilber advised the Assembly on the staffing challenges. The municipality, like the school district, has a hard time getting commercially licensed drivers.
Assemblywoman Austin Quinn-Davidson also falsely stated that the Assembly wasn’t informed, but her lack of attendance at meetings might be part of the reason she doesn’t know what occurred at budget work sessions.
Anchorage has been conducting round-the-clock snow clearing operations since Tuesday, since the “snowmageddon” winter event that dumped over 24 inches of snow in two days. The snow plowing operations are run by a city streets manager who has over 27 years experience removing snow from Anchorage streets.
Anchorage plowing crews work the main arteries first, and sometimes that takes several passes to keep them clear. Then, they move into the collector streets (larger roads that feed into neighborhoods) and finally into neighborhood streets.
With the latest storm, which started Sunday afternoon, the Anchorage School District has announced schools will be closed on Monday.
One thing residents don’t always understand is that some of the main roads in Anchorage are maintained by the State of Alaska, not the city.
To view which streets are managed by the city or state, visit this link. Information on the State Department of Transportation roads are also found here.
The city has had 21-28 graders on the streets continuously, 24 hours a day, since the last snowfall on Tuesday, and has nine sidewalk clearing operators. Those sidewalk-clearing operators also need to have commercial drivers licenses.
One of the challenges of the workforce challenge is that under the Biden Administration, it now costs up to $8,000 to get a commercial drivers license, and sometime it can take months. Biden Administration policies have made CDL drivers scarce across the country, with all trucking and commercial driving operations and retailers suffering. It’s the same problem that has led to a lack of availability of goods around the country, with worker shortages contributing to the supply chain crisis.
Another reason for the worker shortage is the legalization of cannabis, and the fact that many workers cannot pass a drug test now.
Unions are a big part of the worker shortage problem, because they run as cartels. Unions won’t allow some operators to work in some job classifications, even if there is a proven need. The city is bringing in new apprentices to work some of these jobs, which have been hard to fill, and the city has asked the unions for assistance in reassigning qualified CDL drivers to run plowing equipment during large plow-out events. The mayor could probably get around the union cartels by declaring an emergency.
The city has brought more contractors in to haul snow, including an extra 25-30 trucks a night working the snow hauling.
“Our MOA crews and contractors have been running 24/7 operations since Tuesday. We are grateful for the partnership and cooperation from Local 302, Local 71, the Teamsters, and our numerous contractors to plow out our municipal streets. We also recognize the challenges the State of Alaska has with resources as well, and we appreciate residents’ patience as we move into our next storm, which we anticipate may bring another 10-16 inches of snow,” said Amy Demboski, Anchorage’s city manager.
To see the latest updates on which roads and sidewalks have been plowed, please go to the MOA Snow Plow Hub. The page is updated at the end of each shift.
