PLYMOUTH, Minnesota — With more snow coming on Thursday, rest easy knowing that street-clearing crews are largely at full strength.
Despite pandemic-fueled staffing shortages across many industries, most of the largest municipalities in the Twin Cities metro area say they're doing just fine with staffing this winter.
In Plymouth, Public Works Operation Manager Abbie Browen says the city has 15 dedicated employees in the Streets Department, along with two dozen others from the Utilities Department who can operate snow plows if needed. Ahead of anticipated snowfall on Thursday, the city has 20 large plow trucks and loaders on standby.
"They're already loaded up with salt and ready to start as soon as we make the call. We have a threshold of two inches when we would call a full city plow," Browen said. "We will have folks in as early as 4 a.m., as of now, and potentially earlier."
In Minneapolis, meanwhile, the city plans to have 60 to 65 plows out tomorrow.
Joe Paumen, the city's director of Transportation Maintenance and Repair, says there are just enough employees to operate all of them.
"It's hard to find people right now, but we're fully staffed for our snow removal operations," Paumen said. "The backup list just isn't as long as it used to be."
Other large cities in the metropolitan area report similar staffing levels. In Bloomington, a spokesperson said "we are not experiencing staffing issues and are fully able to respond." Woodbury, which has 20 plow trucks and one loader, is "essentially fully staffed" right now as the city goes through the hiring process for one last position. With 30 plow operators in Anoka County, a spokesperson said that "we are short a few operators but the job market is extremely tight. Anoka County is currently running 20 trucks during the day (2 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and 10 at night (2 p.m. to 2 a.m.) – 24/7 until roads are clear edge-to-edge."
Brooklyn Park, meanwhile, has 17 heavy duty snowplow truck routes, loaders and smaller trucks for 14 cul de sac routes, and plows for 10 sidewalk, trails and parking lots.
And in St. Paul, the public works department reports having 100 employees in the Street Maintenance Division, including office staff. A spokesperson said they are hiring for 15 vacant positions (street services workers and labor trainees).
Finally, the Minnesota Department of Transportation has 200 plows in the metro and 800 plows statewide, with more than 1,600 operators.
"We would always take more snowplow drivers and have positions open, but no -- we don't really have a 'shortage' because we are two people to one plow statewide," MnDOT spokesperson Anne Meyer said in a text message. "And we have contingency plans to move folks around if needed."
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