The Baltimore City Council held an informational hearing Thursday on working conditions at the city’s Department of Public Works after a series of reports outlined safety and culture concerns within that agency.

The hearing before the council’s Legislative Investigations Committee began with a presentation by Baltimore Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming, whose March 5 report found that DPW employees were subjected to an adverse work environment for the last decade.

Cumming testified that of the $641 million granted to Baltimore under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), just $15 million went to DPW at a time when the agency needed to address long-standing infrastructure problems — such as broken HVAC systems — at its sanitation yards.

“They truly were the forgotten department. They had to endure it because they had no choice,” Cumming said.

Cumming said the neglect led to 1,627 reported injuries at DPW from 2019 to 2024 — an average of nearly one injury daily — and six deaths, including two in 2024 alone. She said much of the distress could have been avoided with better training procedures.

“I went to some of the training, and it was really hard. I didn’t understand some of the things they were saying,” Cumming said. “So I think it’s very important that you keep things at a level that everybody can understand.”

Thiru Vignarajah, an attorney for the family of DPW employee Ronald Silver II, has said Cumming’s report proved employees received “literally no training” in the two years leading up to Silver’s death on the job last August.

Asked by Councilman Ryan Dorsey about criticism of the city’s union for sanitation workers in her report, Cumming explained that any negative feelings she may have toward the union come from what she learned by interviewing more than 130 DPW employees. The union’s attorney sent multiple letters to Cumming’s office arguing she lacked jurisdiction to investigate the extent of their bargaining efforts, the inspector general said.

While no legislation was introduced Thursday and city leaders say much more needs to be done, some are crediting DPW Director Khalil Zaied — who assumed leadership of the agency last fall — with moving things in the right direction.

“Director Zaied inherited an agency in crisis, and he is working hard to fix it,” City Council President Zeke Cohen said.

Zaied responded to concerns by noting that DPW has been working with Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and the city’s Department of Human Resources to enact salary increases for sanitation workers. Hourly wages currently start at $15.50, while some temporary DPW employees are paid just $11 per hour without benefits, Dorsey and Cohen said at the hearing, respectively.

Have a news tip? Contact Carson Swick at cswick@baltsun.com.