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The Select Board declared a local state of emergency Monday afternoon to speed snow removal and give town crews added flexibility as sidewalks, corners and narrow streets remained choked by snow piled up during weekend storm operations.
The board opened an emergency virtual meeting at 2:05 p.m. with a single agenda item — declaring a snow emergency — and asked Department of Public Works Superintendent Amy McHugh to explain the need and the process.
McHugh told the board she requested the declaration because DPW "see[s] a threat to public health and safety," as snow moved during plowing has been deposited along sidewalks and built up at corners, creating sightline problems. She said Marblehead's streets "are very small," leaving "a narrower street to get your emergency equipment through," and the town is running out of places to put additional snow if more precipitation arrives.
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The declaration, she said, is meant to allow removal rather than "keep piling it higher and higher." McHugh told board members the town has done removals in the past, generally operating through the night for major work, with smaller-scale removal during the day.
McHugh said DPW plans to target priority areas including the business district, the historic district and limited pedestrian routes, and to address safety needs such as crosswalks near schools.
For disposal, McHugh said the town uses two coastal drop points — the Landing at State Street and Riverhead Beach near a boat ramp — where dump trucks line up, back to the edge and deposit snow. She said the snow "has not been down for a long period of time" and has not collected trash, and that DPW pretreated roads well before the storm but "hasn't treated during the process right now," meaning there is "no additional salt or deicer in the snow."
Reading from the town's policy and guidelines, McHugh said Marblehead has few town-owned open properties suitable for snow storage, with remaining areas largely consisting of parks, playing fields, conservation land and wetlands. She noted that snowmelt flows into catch basins and ultimately ends up in coastal waters.
Select Board member Dan Fox said his understanding was the board would declare a state of emergency through Friday morning and asked about the steps required before ocean dumping begins. McHugh said the conservation agent files an online emergency dumping form with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and the town tracks how much snow is moved and documents where it came from and where it was deposited.
Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer said Brendan Callahan, the acting conservation agent, had already communicated with the chair of the Conservation Commission and sent DEP a heads-up. Kezer said DEP would receive documentation including a letter under Callahan's signature and a letter stating the Select Board declared the emergency, and that the Conservation Commission is expected to ratify the actions at its scheduled Thursday meeting.
McHugh said DPW remained in storm operations Monday and expected another 4 to 6 inches of snow, with limited removal possibly beginning Tuesday in smaller areas, but the bulk of removal planned between midnight and 7 a.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights.
