As the Northeast saw starts to see its first snowfall of the season, Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan says the city is recruiting private contractors to drive snowplows due to the labor shortage of qualified drivers.
The Democrat says the city expanded the number of private contractors who are already learning the city streets in preparation of the first storm.
“They've all agreed that they will have the GPS is in their vehicles so that we'll be able to track them, already training some of them on some of our snow routes where we think we may need to fill in those gaps," she said.
Sheehan says after a recent meeting of the New York Conference of Mayors, nearly all mayors across the state are concerned about the labor shortage this winter.
“There's not a mayor in the state of New York who can guarantee anything when it comes to snowplow drivers and getting those CDL license drivers behind the wheel," she added.
Some school districts have had to cancel classes this fall due to the lack of licensed bus drivers.
