MANSFIELD — Stephanie Zader said Tuesday the city should have been better prepared to handle the holiday weekend winter storm that dumped several inches of snow on city streets.
The Mansfield City Council At-large representative said she spent a lot of time during the last couple of days at the city’s service complex, including hours spent riding in a city snow plow.
“We could have been prepared for this. We knew the storm was coming. It didn’t take us by surprise. It didn’t come out of nowhere. We knew for several days that it was coming. We should have been better prepared,” Zader said during council’s meeting.
The council member’s comments came after Public Works Director David Remy admitted the city had issues dealing with the snow that began Sunday night and continued into Monday.
Zader said she spoke with workers and received good feedback “from people who actually do the job about things that are needed, issues that are happening,” consistent with what she has heard in the past regarding the city’s snow clearing issues.
“They are under-staffed, they are under-equipped and the pay doesn’t match the market pay,” she said.
“We may have given them raises, but the laborers come in at $15 something an hour. When they can go down to (Ohio Laborers’ Union Local 1216) and start at $19 per hour and be at $30 an hour in four years, they are not gonna work for us.
“They can go flip burgers at McDonald’s for 15 bucks an hour. Am I gonna put my life on the line plowing snow or am I gonna go ask people if they want fries with that? I’m probably not going to go put my life on the line plowing snow for 50 cents more an hour,” Zader said.
“I think we need to do better for the employees of Mansfield and the citizens of Mansfield,” she said. “There are a number of positions that went unfilled during a time when we could have been trying to fill those and we could have been prepared for this.”
Fifth Ward Councilman Aurelio Diaz said he had heard from north-end residents offering concerns about the street-clearing efforts, especially near North Lake Park.
Second Ward Councilwoman Cheryl Meier read a letter from a resident in Woodland who was also disappointed with the city’s response.
In his remarks, Remy said the city will continue its procedure of trying to clear higher priority streets first and then work on lower priority and less-traveled roads.
He said the city had 12 trucks out plowing, though he said two of the larger trucks are out of service in need of repair. He said the crews worked 12-hour shifts and that more employees are needed.
“We’re trying to get more people to come to work for the city,” Remy said, pointing to increased pay when the last contract was negotiated. “There were a lot of different factors that went (into the weekend snow plowing effort).”
Remy said the city was unable to “pre-treat” city streets with brine before the storm hit.
“We do have a brining machine, but we are having some technical issues with it, which requires the company that manufactured it to come in and resolve those issues. We’ve been trying to do that, but we haven’t been able to get them here,” Remy said.
“Our (employee) numbers are thin, so I’m asking people to be somewhat patient and and we will move forward the best we can,” Remy said.
Also on Tuesday, City Council:
— honored retiring Mansfield police Sgt. Sara Mosier-Napier, whose 16-year career with the department ended on Jan. 16. She was hired as a patrol officer in 2006, receiving “Top Cop” awards in 2007, 2009 and 2012. She received the “Officer of the Year” award in 2008 and “Medal of Honor” awards in 2010 and 2018.
— approved two bills related to the construction and inspection of phase one of the West End Neighborhood Plan. The legislation calls for spending up to $1,250,000 for the construction work and $125,000 for the inspection after it’s complete. The project will include streetscape improvements and beautification of Glessner Avenue. Sections of Wood Street, Blymyer Avenue and Sturges Avenue will also be improved near their intersections with Glessner.
— voted again to establish council standing committees and a president pro-temp. Council approved these issues in December, but violated its own rules, which require it be done by the current council membership. Council welcomed two members in January. No changes in committee assignments were made since Democrats maintain the same 5-3 voting edge they had in December.
— voted to authorize a $26,566.73 payment to BP for fuel the city purchased in December before submitting a purchase order. Money will come from the repair garage fund.
— voted to spend $77,098 for four new Stryker Medical 15 V4 heart monitor/defibrillators for the Mansfield Fire Department. Assistant Chief Mark Sieving told the city’s Board of Control last week the price includes the trade-in of four, 12-year-old units. The money will come from funds the city set aside last year in American Rescue Plan Act revenue replacement dollars.
— voted to spend $352,318 on new main computer server hardware, replacing obsolete equipment. The city would pay for the new Dell equipment using a portion of the $5 million in American Rescue Plan Act revenue replacement funds that City Council agreed to set aside last fall.
— observed a moment of silence in honor of former long-time 4th Ward Councilman Walden “Butch” Jefferson, who died Jan. 10. Jefferson served 16 years on council.
