Mayor Credits City Services with Blizzard Cleanup

From Everett Housing Authority Chris Giarratana and Mark Maguire are clearing out the snow at Golden Age Circle on
Florence street Sunday Morning.

Mayor Carlo DeMaria said Monday night that he was pleased with the city’s overall response to the Blizzard of 2013, which saw some 25 inches of snow fall in Everett in a 24-hour period beginning last Friday afternoon, February 8 and ending Saturday, February 9.

“I thought the city’s crews, overall, did an excellent job,” said Mayor DeMaria Monday night at City Hall. “If we had had the sidewalk plows that we had asked the council for last year, you wouldn’t see the snow on the sidewalks now. Unfortunately, we’re still in the mode of cleaning up sidewalks and parking lots, but overall, with the major roads and side streets they did an excellent job. We didn’t get to the dead ends as early as we wanted to, but the main thoroughfares were open and safe even before the travel ban was lifted by the state.”

DeMaria noted that the City Services Department, under the leadership of Acting Director Kevin Noonan, was responsive, professional and courteous to residents throughout the storm response and he credited Noonan with motivating the public works crews and keeping them focused on the job at hand.

“He (Noonan) has a nice way about himself, I think the guys like working for him and it showed in the way they went about their work,” said the mayor. “You know, our crews came in to work on Friday morning and about the time they would’ve been going home, the snow started to fall and really didn’t stop until late the next morning, so they were on duty for 24 hours straight. Is (Noonan) a little green, as far as running a major department? Yeah he is a little, but a lot of people in our city stepped up during the storm, and I thought Kevin and the crews were among those.”

According to Mayor DeMaria, a mix of city crews and contractors were scheduled to work during the overnight hours for the next few days to make sure that all streets, sidewalks and municipal lots are passable and safe.

Though schools were slated to remain closed on Tuesday, because of sidewalk and safety concerns, the Mayor said the goal is to have schools opened on time on Wednesday.

In addition to the efforts of the city services departments, Mayor DeMaria said that both the fire and police departments put additional staff on during the snow emergency and pointed out that several other city department heads worked throughout the weekend to lend a hand to the hourly employees who were manning plows and snow removal equipment.

“Everyone worked hard and did a wonderful job,” he said.