Prince George鈥檚 County admits botching snow storm response

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Two weeks after a big storm dumped several inches of snow across Prince George鈥檚 County, Maryland, residents and elected leaders are still hot about the response efforts that went into clearing all the snow and ice off the roads.

The man in charge of it all, Public Works and Transportation Director Michael Johnson, admitted Wednesday the county “fell short.”

In terms of the actual snow removal, 鈥渋nadequate resources鈥� were blamed for the delay, combined with the type of storm that hit.

Johnson told the Prince George’s County Council that in some cases, the county doesn鈥檛 have enough large six and 10-wheel dump trucks that can be hooked up to plows to clear off the busier roads that the county is responsible for 鈥� while also hitting secondary and residential streets.

That鈥檚 why the county prioritized the busiest roads first, but the storm that started Jan. 5 and continued into the next day kept dropping more snow on those roads, keeping crews from hitting residential roads.

鈥淭his challenged our ability to deliver consistent outcomes across all neighborhoods,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not able to tackle both sets of streets, classes of streets, with our current compliment of equipment.鈥�

But he said the county will need to start doing that during future snow events.

鈥淚t鈥檚 essential that those roads are dealt with, primary and secondary,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淗owever it鈥檚 also important that people are able to get medicine or that you鈥檙e able to get about.鈥�

He said some of the problems were worsened by people driving on top of roads that hadn鈥檛 been treated yet, packing the snow and turning it into ice. Hiring enough contractors to plow certain areas can also be hard since private companies and other jurisdictions might pay more.

Johnson testified that county residents were failed by a plow tracking system that is supposed to keep people informed about the current state of operations online. He said that software glitch has been fixed.

And the county will keep more of a magnesium chloride salting solution, which can better melt ice on roads during extremely cold weather. However, he admitted it鈥檚 also rougher on roads and the environment.

Almost as frustrating for some members of the council was the county鈥檚 311 response, which one resident described as 鈥渄ismissive鈥� when it was being relied on the most.

鈥淧eople have talked about the lack of communication,鈥� said District 1鈥檚 Tom Dernoga. 鈥淭his is typical of 311. Not just with this. People file a 311 complaint, it gets closed out with no explanation.鈥�

鈥淭hey filed the 311 complaint, and it got closed out, no plow, no treatment, no anything, and no explanation,鈥� Dernoga added. 鈥淯nless they鈥檙e all entering them incorrectly.鈥�

Johnson said, sometimes, the 311 complaint filed doesn’t actually spell out a grievance.

Dernoga said it鈥檚 also a problem when complaints are filed with other agencies.

鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing more frustrating to a constituent than filing a complaint and having it closed with no explanation and your complaint is not resolved,鈥� Dernoga said.

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