City snow plans, trash collection, and budget beginnings with Lloyd Snook

So let's, like I said, get into last night's meeting.

You all got two reports right at the start, both dealing with public works a bit.

But as we are starting to see some cooler temperatures, although not too cool just yet, you all got a presentation on the snow and ice management plan.

Now, obviously, as we prepare for winter weather, a lot of people say, Think back to January and some of the ice that encased us all, I think here in the city anyway, for a little bit.

Yes, exactly, as you put it.

So just keeping that in mind, Lloyd, and maybe does that affect maybe any of the conversations that you all had last night as you all prepare for the next winter that will affect us here in Charlottesville?

Well, one thing we kind of have to keep in the back of our minds is that our city manager, came to us from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

So he doesn't really do snow very well.

We've had to kind of educate him on the fly.

And certainly January of 2026 was a real eye-opener for all of us.

It was certainly, you know, I've been here a long time.

It's probably the worst that I've seen, the roads and the sidewalks and so on, I mean, at one point I was going out with a pickaxe trying to penetrate three inches of ice to get down to the sidewalk.

Yeah.

And you can still see the marks in the concrete on the sidewalk where the pickaxe hit.

So, I mean, that's clearly an unusual event.

It is not likely to recur.

But we do know, first of all, annual predictions average 16 to 20 inches of snow, not all.

of that is something that has to be a snow event, so to speak.

An inch or two here or there doesn't really affect much.

But 16 to 20 inches is certainly a good possibility.

There's going to be at least one major storm out of that, probably two.

And on top of that, we've got the strengthening El Nino, which is expected to bring more uncertainty.

So lots of reasons why it was important to look at it.

And our staff did what in the military they would call an after-action report, sat down after the January to February mess, and said, okay, what can we learn from this? And a few things they learned.

One was after they get the initial pass around all of the major streets, they're going to start spending a little more time a little sooner on the side streets and the places where people actually live.

So let's, like I said, get into last night's meeting.

You all got two reports right at the start, both dealing with public works a bit.

But as we are starting to see some cooler temperatures, although not too cool just yet, you all got a presentation on the snow and ice management plan.

Now, obviously, as we prepare for winter weather, a lot of people say, Think back to January and some of the ice that encased us all, I think here in the city anyway, for a little bit.

Yes, exactly, as you put it.

So just keeping that in mind, Lloyd, and maybe does that affect maybe any of the conversations that you all had last night as you all prepare for the next winter that will affect us here in Charlottesville?

Well, one thing we kind of have to keep in the back of our minds is that our city manager, came to us from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

So he doesn't really do snow very well.

We've had to kind of educate him on the fly.

And certainly January of 2026 was a real eye-opener for all of us.

It was certainly, you know, I've been here a long time.

It's probably the worst that I've seen, the roads and the sidewalks and so on, I mean, at one point I was going out with a pickaxe trying to penetrate three inches of ice to get down to the sidewalk.

Yeah.

And you can still see the marks in the concrete on the sidewalk where the pickaxe hit.

So, I mean, that's clearly an unusual event.

It is not likely to recur.

But we do know, first of all, annual predictions average 16 to 20 inches of snow, not all.

of that is something that has to be a snow event, so to speak.

An inch or two here or there doesn't really affect much.

But 16 to 20 inches is certainly a good possibility.

There's going to be at least one major storm out of that, probably two.

And on top of that, we've got the strengthening El Nino, which is expected to bring more uncertainty.

So lots of reasons why it was important to look at it.

And our staff did what in the military they would call an after-action report, sat down after the January to February mess, and said, okay, what can we learn from this? And a few things they learned.

One was after they get the initial pass around all of the major streets, they're going to start spending a little more time a little sooner on the side streets and the places where people actually live.