With the city still hobbled by heavy snow, uncleared neighborhood roads and rutted streets, former Anchorage Assembly chair and mayoral candidate Suzanne LaFrance today called on Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson to improve pay for snowplow operators.
The call was included in an announcement outlining LaFrance’s plan to improve snow removal, calling on the mayor to use the existing labor contract to increase the starting hourly wage to $25 per hour. The plan also calls for improved coordination with the state, an audit of existing city plow equipment and improve management.
“We’re in an economic emergency, and we need action now. The municipality’s wages are way below market rate, putting us at a competitive disadvantage for hiring and retaining operators,” LaFrance said in a prepared statement accompanying the announcement. “This situation was preventable, and the mayor could–and should–do everything in his power to fill all open positions today.”
As everyone searches for answers about the response, long-term cuts to the city and state’s snowplowing budgets and uncompetitive pay have frequently been cited.
For his part, Bronson has spent much of the time since snow fell last week defending the city’s handling of the snowstorm, arguing that the amount of snow was the problem. After touting the city’s readiness this fall, Bronson declared a snow emergency about 24 hours after snow started falling in the city and pledged to have all city roads plowed out within 84 hours. That deadline came and went as the mayor diverted plows to help clear state-maintained roads.
“I know the narrative out there is that we failed. We didn’t. We just had an extra challenge of 38 inches in a week — less than a week — of very wet snow. We had to assist with the state,” Bronson said, defending his decision to divert resources away from neighborhoods.
A second snowstorm on Monday put crews even further behind. As of Friday, the city reports that 22 of the 61 plowing sectors have not been completed since the Monday snowstorm, once again missing the 84-hour plowing goal.
The Anchorage School District reopened in-person classes on Thursday after Bronson lashed out at the district for their continued closure. The day saw delays in bus routes, with several busses requiring tows and one in a minor collision, according to the Anchorage Daily News. School leadership said they had expected roads to be in better shape.
“On Thursday, seven buses needed to be towed. Every single bus was delayed,” Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt told the paper. “One school was not open. So — I’m disappointed.”
The Anchorage Assembly has announced the city’s snow response will be the subject of several upcoming hearings, with a statement saying, “the people of Anchorage deserve better.” That includes a special meeting of the Assembly Enterprise & Utilities Oversight Committee on Dec. 6, a joint meeting with the Anchorage School Board on Dec. 8 and the potential for additional action on the city budget.
LaFrance, in her statement, said it’s a matter of leadership.
“Commonsense solutions to this crisis are readily available. We know what we need to do to solve this problem. We need a mayor who will plan, collaborate, and act. The current failure of leadership is costing our kids and schools as well as dragging our economy into the ground,” she said. “Anchorage is a winter city. It snows every year. The municipality has always known how to clear the roads, but these past two years, we’ve seen a string of failures with snow removal that have shut down businesses and schools, and undermined basic public safety. As mayor, I’ll fix that.”
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter.
