Building Together: City of Memphis Weekly Update

The city of Memphis employs more than 6,700 people. And this week, all of us - regardless of division or department - were focused on keeping the city of Memphis open for business during the severe winter weather and will continue the work needed. 

Our team went to work battling snow and ice on our roads. We worked with our partners at MLGW, asking residents to conserve power and water. Our team opened emergency warming centers with operational support from the Hospitality Hub. We coordinated efforts with the Shelby County Emergency Management Agency to provide emergency messaging, support for residents in need, and the water tanks that allowed city hospitals to remain operational. 

I am proud of the work of all of our departments this week. Our Libraries and Parks opened facilities and welcomed residents, converting Dave Wells Community Center into a 24-hour warming center. Our Office of Community Affairs, in partnership with Riverside Missionary Baptist Church, delivered groceries to a family in need of food and without transportation to get to a food bank, allowing the family to remain safely at home. Memphis Animal Services provided 24-hour service, responding to 158 welfare calls and delivering 24 doghouses. General Services kept all of the vital City buildings and facilities working and safe. Engineering was responsible for keeping our traffic signals and signs operational, including those damaged by vehicular accidents. The Office of Emergency Management tracked all the key data and coordinated resources, mitigation measures, and responses, including working with EMA. Our first responders in our Fire and Police departments provided life-saving and community protection services without interruption. The 690 women and men of our Public Works department have been working around the clock since last Saturday, preparing for and tackling the winter weather. Their efforts helped keep our roads passable for the rest of us to get to and from work if needed, for businesses to stay open, and for emergency vehicles and medical staff to reach hospitals and patients.  

And throughout, we continuously communicated the messages needed to keep Memphians informed. We did this in large part thanks to all of you who tuned into our press conferences, shared our social media notices, and checked in with neighbors and others who might not be as technologically well-connected. Communicating broadly is a challenging job. Councilwoman Yolanda Cooper-Sutton brought this point to light during our first round of appointee approvals before the City Council last week. We understand that reaching our entire community becomes more challenging during times of crisis - those not connected via smartphones and computers may not receive important or life-saving messages. I appreciate each of you who shared a message or information with someone who wasn’t checking social media for updates.  

And if you have been able to watch the news or keep up with social media, you’ve probably heard that multiple tons of salt and sand have been spread across the roadways over the past week and that our snowplows have been running for extended hours, day and night.  I am proud of those facts. But I would ask you to remember that these services, and all I mentioned above, are delivered by your neighbors and your fellow Memphians. Every one of those efforts was made by a dedicated person working to keep our community safe. I am proud to work alongside them. And, on behalf of our community, I thank each of them for their service. 

 

Snow and Ice Operations - by the numbers: 
20  Snowplows used for snow/ice remediation
30K gallons of Brine used as pretreatment
3.1K tons of Salt/Sand used to remediate snow/ice

 

Snow Mitigation Timeline:  

Saturday - 1/13 
Brine Operations (Pretreatment) 
Sunday - 1/14 
Brine Operations Deployment of salt/sand units  
Monday - 1/15 
Full Snow and Ice Operation  
Tuesday – 1/16 
Full Snow and Ice Operation  
Wednesday - 1/17 
Full Snow and Ice Operation  
Thursday - 1/18
Full Snow and Ice Operation
Friday - 1/19
Full Snow and Ice Operation

One final important update - solid waste collections will resume a normal collection schedule on Monday, Jan 22. This means the team will pick up your trash on the day of the week assigned to you - if you regularly get a Thursday pick-up, the team will be there this Thursday to collect your trash/recycling. 

We know this week has been challenging, and we appreciate your patience.

 

In partnership and progress,

Paul A. Young

 

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