Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - City officials say they are in the final editing stages of the process to file the official Buffalo Snow Plan ahead of the 2023-24 winter season in Western New York.
Plenty of attention has been focused on the city's preparations for the upcoming winter following last year's Christmas Weekend blizzard that grinded Buffalo to a halt for several days and killed 47 residents.
As members from the Department of Public Works and others continue to grind away at final preparations for the winter ahead, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown says the city has been doing a lot of work since the last Western New York snowfall to be ready for this season.
"We've convened our Storm Task Force, working with members of the community, the business community, residents, county agencies, state agencies, private sector organizations. Those meetings have gone very well," said Mayor Brown on Thursday. "We have new policies and procedures for storm response that have come out of those meetings. We had a report commissioned, again, adopting recommendations that came out of the report from New York University Wagner school. And just listening to members of the community in our meetings with the various departments that participate in storm response. So we will have new equipment, we will have new policies and procedures in place, and we will be as prepared as you can be for this winter season."
According to Public Works Commissioner Nate Marton, the city's Storm Task Force has met already twice ahead of the winter months, and plan to meet again in the coming days and weeks.
With the work that has already gone into preparations for this winter season, Mayor Brown feels pretty good about where his administration is at. However, he knows the work is no where close to over.
"We continue to work, we continue to tweak our preparedness, to add new elements that will help us respond more effectively. We're continuing to communicate with state government and county government, and other local municipalities so that we can work together even more effectively when the next storm hits. So we feel very good about our preparation, and we're looking forward to, soon, releasing the city snow plan," Brown said.
Part of the preparations for the upcoming winter season included plans to hire an Emergency Services Manager, as well as a Fleet Manager for the City of Buffalo. While those two positions have yet to be filled, Mayor Brown says progress continues to be made to find the ideal candidates for both positions.
"We have put out job announcements, we've interviewed people for those positions. We are going to extend the interview period. We believe that we need to do more extensive looking for those positions," he said."We've been very aggressive about getting information out nationally, we have national searches going for both of those positions. Hopefully we will be able to find the right people to fill them."
Mayor Brown adds if those positions are not filled when the snow starts to fall, it will not impede the city's ability to respond effectively to a storm of any magnitude.
While the City of Buffalo does not have to have its Snow Plan filed until Nov. 1 every year, the Buffalo Common Council has called for an amendment of the City Charter to change the deadline of the annual Snow Plan to April 1.
Although Mayor Brown agrees a shifting of deadlines for the City Snow Plan can be done, he feels it's a bad move to make the deadline so early.
"It'll be totally ineffective. Storm season in Buffalo can extend into April, so it doesn't make any sense trying to file a snow plan when you might still be dealing with snow or the aftermath of snow. I completely disagree with it. I think April is a very bad move," Mayor Brown said. "When you move into May, your into the city's budget period. I think moving up the deadline makes sense, but moving it up into April certainly doesn't make sense at all. It's not functional. I think it'll be a step backwards."
