Seattle City Councilmember Bruce Harrell

A few weeks ago, our city experienced one of the biggest snowstorms in over a decade, replete with the usual post-storm analysis. The public’s perception of how the City handled the storm can best be described as “frustration on steroids.” As the Mayor graded the City’s response as a “B” and we questioned the vacation schedules of department heads, I kept reminding myself that we, as a City Council, are the policy leaders and community leaders. As such, the issues of “salt” vs. “GEOMELT” or whether the City is in a position to demand better bus service from the County under snow conditions….are issues that we could own. It could have been determined last year that our use of salt, which could end up in our creeks and Puget Sound, was not considered the major detriment to salmon. I have never blamed a teammate for a team loss and won’t start doing that now. Yes, there is plenty of room to blast the Mayor, the County and even the City Council, but that won’t clear the 1,531 lanes of primary and secondary arterials under a pre-determined plan for snow and ice routes. It is cathartic to state that we could have done a better job. As a City Council, our focus should be “What can we do better!”

I believe there are three major areas that must be re-evaluated:

• (1) Our policy regarding the use of salt and sand; how it is used; when should it be used; environmental impacts; best practices, etc.
• (2) Our policies regarding plowing major arterials and clearing access to hospitals, major facilities and roads; what are the routes and are they the right ones; what is the inventory of plows and how fast can they become deployed, etc., and
• (3) Improving the efficiency of public transit when the fleet and trip times are reduced; what other options are there; how is the public notified, etc…

We began discussions on Monday, January 5th during Council Briefing. In what I have described as a “piecemeal” approach, there were overviews from the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) and the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), with additional information from the Seattle Fire Department (SFD) and the Seattle Police Department (SPD). The following day, Tuesday, January 6th, we had a joint Transportation/Environment, Emergency Management, and Utilities Committee meeting where there was a briefing and discussion with SDOT, the Human Services Department (HSD), Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), City Light, OEM, and METRO. Public comment was accepted at this meeting, with approximately five citizens providing testimony. Another joint Transportation/Environment, Emergency Management and Utilities Committee meeting will take place Friday, February 20th. It will address a detailed action plan. Finally, a more detailed briefing from Seattle City Light will take place at the Thursday, January 29th meeting of the Energy and Technology Committee.

The piecemeal approach I described above is, to a large extent, a natural sequence of events; defend the hard work and sacrifices made by numerous committed City employees. Nobody wants to say, “I dropped the ball.” The only way we can say this is to admit that the City dropped the ball…right in about 12 inches of snow. Despite the strategy of City leadership, we must remember that many of the work crews, department heads and volunteers demonstrated a commitment to excellence as well. We must not forget that or take it for granted.

I have urged each of my colleagues to look at their Committees and to dig a little deeper. We must determine how our respective departments fit into the bigger picture of our snow storm policy and practices. As we examine the big picture, we can then be assured that we have readiness at every department level and a coordinated approach that minimizes errors in judgment.

Last year I worked closely with City Light regarding their policy and practices for power outages. Not to do so, would cause the Utility and ourselves a grave disservice. It must be noted that this is part of our business and City Light did an outstanding job in this regard. From a technology standpoint, I am working closely with the Department of Information Technology. We must be sure we are optimizing our use of technology in how we disseminate public messages and safety communications. Again, my committee will demonstrate complete readiness in terms of fitting into the “big picture” in our snow storm policy.

While one of my colleagues recommended that a performance audit is needed, I readily support this idea as long as the audit is conducted by an outside organization experienced in emergency response practices. We must have an evaluation that will provide a clear and concrete solution to help us respond to city-wide emergencies with strategies that work.

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