Lexington’s public works commissioner resigns after snow response criticism
Lexington’s commissioner of environmental quality and public works has resigned after widespread criticism of the city’s response to winter weather, Mayor Linda Gorton announced Wednesday.
Nancy Albright was appointed to head the city department in 2019 after serving as a deputy state highway engineer for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. As commissioner, she supervised division directors of streets and roads, water quality, environmental services, urban forestry and other city divisions. Her last day will be March 31.
“It is not lost on me that anything our 3,000-plus employees do is ultimately my responsibility,” Gorton said at a Wednesday news conference. “I have high expectations of myself, and of our employees, and high standards for the services my administration delivers to people.”
Alrbight’s departure comes after the city was unable to effectively clear roadways following three winter events: Winter Storm Blair in early 2025, Winter Storm Fern in January 2026 and Tuesday’s early morning snowfall that led to more than 150 collisions across Lexington.
“I share the public’s frustration and disappointment in the services we have provided in the recent snow and ice storms,” Gorton said, later thanking Albright for her work and contributions to the city.
Charlie Martin will serve as the interim commissioner after Albright’s resignation. He has been the city’s director of water quality since 2002, overseeing Lexington’s sewer and stormwater infrastructure as well as its water treatment facilities. This is his fifth time serving as an interim environmental quality and public works commissioner.
Gorton announced another change in Wednesday’s conference: Supervision over the city’s streets and roads divisions is being transferred to deputy chief administrative officer Glenn Brown. He has served in that role since 2013 after previously working as an aide in the mayor’s office and the director of community corrections.
Gorton did not say what that transfer meant for streets and roads director Rob Allen. Neither Gorton nor staff in her office took questions at the press conference on Wednesday.
Widespread criticism of snow, ice removal
In the aftermath of Winter Storms Blair and Fern, several inches of both snow and ice followed by long bouts of below-freezing temperatures left many Lexington roadways covered and uncleared for weeks. Officials promised after Blair that the city would do better, but Fern’s response was largely as ineffective.
Most recently, around 4:30 a.m. on March 17, several blasts of snow hit Lexington in rapid succession. Officials said that snow froze into sheets of ice right as commuters were heading to work. Despite pre-treating roadways on March 16, plows were unable to quickly clear streets yet again after the event brought mild total snow accumulation.
Fayette County Public Schools announced Tuesday would be a non-traditional instruction day after some students and teachers had already made it into classrooms. Some Lexington council members had harsh words for the city’s response to the snowfall, calling it “unacceptable and a “public safety issue.”
Gorton said city staff will soon finish an after-action review of the response to Winter Storm Fern. That review will assess what went well and did not get well, and will inform a brand new winter management plan that will include strategies for ice as well as snow.
“I am tearing up our city’s snow plan,” Gorton said Wednesday. “Our approach currently isn’t working very well, and we need to start over.”
This story was originally published March 18, 2026 at 4:20 PM.
