{"id":124715,"date":"2026-02-27T02:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T02:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/124715\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T02:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T02:12:09","slug":"scranton-releases-report-on-response-to-january-snowstorm-says-mass-callouts-in-dpw-the-most-this-decade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/124715\/","title":{"rendered":"Scranton releases report on response to January snowstorm, says mass callouts in DPW the most this decade"},"content":{"rendered":"

City Hall says the cost hiring outside help for snow-cleanup could near a half-million dollars<\/p>\n

SCRANTON, Pa. \u2014 Scranton\u2019s<\/a> Department of Public Works saw 40 callouts the day after January\u2019s winter storm \u2014 the most this decade \u2014 and the city had to hire outside help to try and make up the difference at a cost that could near a half-million dollars, Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti\u2019s administration told City Council.<\/p>\n

City Hall said in its report that they are mulling \u201cdisciplinary action and ensuring compliance with calls for overtime\u201d as well as a parttime staff of \u201calternative labor.\u201d They said they also are considering keeping one or two contractors available for future snow plowing and removal.<\/p>\n

City Solicitor Jessica Eskra declined to comment on the possibility of disciplinary action.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s under review at this time,” she said.<\/p>\n

Council wanted a report detailing the administration\u2019s handling of the late January storm, which dropped nearly 10 inches of snow<\/a> in the Scranton area, following complaints from residents about a slow clean-up and news of mass callouts reported in The Times-Tribune of Scranton.<\/p>\n

Administration officials offered to discuss DPW\u2019s efforts with council in an executive session, meaning the public could not listen to the conversation. Council was unwilling to meet in private.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a storm,\u201d Councilman Sean McAndrew said at public meeting this month. \u201cI don\u2019t know why it needs to be behind closed doors.\u201d<\/p>\n

The administration handed over an after-action report on the storm earlier this week.<\/p>\n

The report said the department was insufficiently staffed during overtime shifts during most of the clean-up to make full use of the DPW\u2019s fleet.<\/p>\n

There were 40 callouts on Jan. 26, one day after storm, the largest amount in one day since the beginning of 2020. The following day, Jan. 27, saw 34 callouts, the fourth highest since the beginning of the decade.<\/p>\n

The report also said the city hired private companies to help the understaffed public works teams with snow removal. The administration estimated the cost could be as much as $450,000 once all the bills arrive.<\/p>\n

The department was well-staffed on Jan. 25, the day of the storm, and on Feb. 1, the tail-end of the emergency declaration. However, the city noted those were both Sundays, so those who showed up for work made double-time.<\/p>\n

A representative from the DPW\u2019s union did not return a message seeking comment.<\/p>\n

The city and the DPW union have been locked in contract negotiations, and there\u2019s been no public indication they\u2019re close to a deal. The union\u2019s last collective bargaining agreement expired at the end of 2024.<\/p>\n

In its report, the city administration said it does not think the contract status had an impact on the callout volume. It noted that callouts averaged slightly higher under a then-current contract as opposed to the now-expired contract.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"City Hall says the cost hiring outside help for snow-cleanup could near a half-million dollars SCRANTON, Pa. \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97684,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":{"0":"post-124715","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-scranton","9":"tag-scranton-headlines","10":"tag-scranton-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}