Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown joined WBEN on Tuesday morning to update the snow plan that is eagerly awaited by all nine Councilmembers and city residents.
"The snow plan is ready," he said. "We will be filing it shortly with the Common Council. Under the city charter, it is due November 1st. We will certainly meet that deadline."
One major change over last winter, which included two historic snow storms,
is communication.
The city going to utilize emergency cell phone notifications similar to what you would see during an Amber Alert.
"I'm very confident that it will make people more aware of extreme weather and it will reach more people. It's a federal system that gives us the ability to send push notifications to people's cell phones. They don't have to sign up for this system. We will partner closely with Erie County and New York State," Brown added.
Months of research and recommendations have been incorporated into the snow plan.
"The NYU study that was done, the state study and internal study that the county did, as well as the work that we have done with FEMA. All of this updated information and recommendations on new policies, procedures,
equipment, vehicles will be in the snow plan and we feel confident that, to the extent you can prepare for Mother Nature, we will be prepared for the upcoming winter season," said Mayor Brown.
Additionally, he said the city is staffed-up. Training is currently underway with drivers.
On equipment - the city has:
- 10 additional plows (Six are on loan from the NYS Thruway Authority)
- A total of 50 active pieces of snow fighting equipment
- The Buffalo Fire Department has new tracked vehicles that are more maneuverable and equipped to handle heavy snow.
Still to come:
Back in February, the city approved two new positions. An Emergency Manager and a Fleet Manager. To date, both of those positions remain unfilled.