Pittsburgh Councilman Anthony Coghill desperately wants to upgrade the city’s aging and unreliable vehicle fleet. But he worries the best chance to do so — at no cost to Pittsburgh — has slipped by.
After a snowy holiday weekend that saw numerous city plows out of service, Coghill told TribLive he has serious concerns about the fleet.
“It’s catastrophic,” Coghill, D-Beechview, said Tuesday.
Coghill was frustrated that some city snowplows were undergoing maintenance and repairs Sunday and Monday when 1 to 3 inches of snow fell in Allegheny County, leaving city crews scrambling to clear slick roads. Officials did not specify how many plows were out of commission.
The councilman believes the city should’ve spent more of its $335 million in federal covid-19 relief money on upgrading its plows, fire trucks, police cars and ambulances.
Pittsburgh already has spent or allocated all of that cash, and it’s too late for officials to put any of it to other uses.
“The ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) money we had should’ve purchased a whole new fleet of vehicles,” Coghill said. “We screwed up.”
Coghill, a longtime advocate for improving city vehicles, blamed both Mayor Ed Gainey’s budgeting decisions and his City Council colleagues for not voting down some of the Gainey administration’s spending plans.
Olga George, a Gainey spokesperson, clapped back at the councilman.
“We’ve spent just under 20 million ARPA dollars and additional 20 million of non ARPA funds in maintaining the fleet,” George said.
“Upgrading an aging fleet is an ongoing task that we’ve been working in the last three years, something Councilman Coghill is quite aware since he votes on the ARPA plan and sits on the (Equipment Leasing Authority) board where he voted on all vehicle expenditures.”
How many plows?
George said the city had 50 vehicles treating streets Monday out of 68 available.
The 18 trucks not in use make up a “reserve fleet… to ensure that we continue to meet the needs of our community,” George said.
She did not elaborate on why the 18 trucks were not deployed.
In an email exchange with TribLive, George did not respond to a question about how many snowplows the city owns. Last February, however, Public Works Director Chris Hornstein said the city had 75 trucks.
“We understand the importance of having reliable vehicles to keep our roads clear and safe for our residents, especially during harsh winters like the one we’re experiencing,” George said. “With a fleet of our size, it is important to note that, on any given day, some vehicles will be in the shop for routine maintenance and repairs. This number goes up in the winter during harsh conditions.”
George did not respond to questions about how long vehicles out for maintenance may be unavailable, the types of issues that sidelined those trucks or the average age of city plows.
The 2025 capital budget includes about $6 million for new vehicles, far less than the $20 million figure Coghill and others have estimated the city should spend on fleet improvements each year.
A healthy fleet, Hornstein told City Council in 2023, would be between five and six years old on average. At the time, he said his department’s vehicles were around 10 years old on average.
“We’re falling to pieces and it’s going to continue to haunt us,” Coghill said.
No easy solutions
Officials for years have sounded the alarm about the city’s aging fleet and calling for newer vehicles.
Plows have been out of service during snowstorms and ambulances have broken down while transporting patients to the hospital.
A 2016 audit by then-Controller Michael Lamb suggested the city should increase penalties levied against First Vehicle, the company that maintains the fleet, when repairs take too long.
The city has contracted with that company for fleet services since 2005.
Controller Rachael Heisler’s office sent out a news release Tuesday morning reiterating its concerns about First Vehicle and reminding the public of its previous audit.
Coghill has been a vocal advocate for upgrading all of the city’s vehicles, particularly for public safety and public works. But, he said, there’s no easy solution to the years of disinvestment.
He said he’d like to see money be diverted to pay for new vehicles instead of spent on such things as a $6 million citywide master plan.
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Councilwoman Theresa Kail-Smith, D-West End, has called for a meeting next week to discuss snow removal. She said she wants more details on equipment and staffing for snow response.
“The bottom line is that our fleet in this city has been allowed to deteriorate over a decade,” said Councilwoman Barb Warwick, D-Greenfield, who chairs council’s committee on public works and infrastructure. “We have vehicles that have been in use since 2008.”
Warwick said she understands the frustration residents have over the city’s slow response to clear snow and ice from Pittsburgh’s streets. But she acknowledged it’s difficult to scrape together enough money to catch up on the backlog of needed upgrades.
“It’s not just our fleet,” Warwick said. “We have aging infrastructure all over. We have needs in our parks. We have needs for our seniors. We have needs for staffing. It’s a balancing act.”
‘Do better’
City officials are bracing for difficult financial years as revenues drop and federal covid-19 funding expires.
While officials agree the city needs newer vehicles, Warwick believes the city is doing a decent job of clearing snow with what they have.
“All in all, we are delivering pretty well on getting most every street done within 24 hours when the snow stops falling,” she said, while acknowledging some smaller streets are often not cleared as quickly.
She said there was room for improvement. Smaller streets should be treated sooner, Warwick said. And she suggested the steepest hills should get priority to be treated faster than flatter stretches.
“I’d like for us to be able to do better,” she said.