SEATTLE -- City officials are asking themselves whether the city could have handled last month's snowstorm better.

The Seattle City Council is reviewing the Department of Transportation's response to the snow and considering possible changes.

The city's Department of Transportation insists it met its goal by keeping main streets open, but the council isn't convinced just yet.

Seattle got more than 11 inches of snow during 14 days of storms in December. Yes, city workers did a bang-up job. But now the city council wants to know more about the leadership.

Take the buses, for instance. The council wants to know whether SDOT has the best plan in place for clearing streets so buses can keep running?

"It certainly didn't work very well and we know that," said Grace Crunican of SDOT.

Crunican said she constantly talked with the head of Metro Transit throughout the storms and admits there is room for improvement.

"I'm not looking for a fight here. I just, I agree with you on the point of communication and coordination," she said.

In future emergencies, a Metro Transit person will be at the Charles Street DOT lot to work closely with that department.

Crunican got defensive when Councilman Tom Rasmussen questioned her about being out of town during the storm. She was in Portland for several days during the week of Christmas.

"I don't operate a snow plow, so I was looking at the news reports of what was on and stayed in close as touch as I could," Crunican said.

Her answer didn't satisfy Rasmussen.

"Whether they have to cancel vacations or whether they have to cancel personal plans, that's part of the job," he said.

Rasmussen said if he were in that position, he would not have taken time away from the city.

The buses may have been off-schedule, but there is good news from emergency services -- fire and police operations continued on without interruption during the storm.

The Seattle Fire Department said its response time was only about one minute slower than normal.

"I also want to give kudos to Metro Transit for providing heavy-duty tow trucks on two different occasions when fire trucks wound up stuck in their response," said Barb Graff of Seattle Emergency Management.

The city did salt its streets after Sunday's snowfall. The city did not use salt during last month's snowstorm per its policy, which was amended after a countless number of complaints poured in.

On Tuesday citizens will have a chance to comment on the city's response to the snow. The Seattle City Council will take comments at 9:30 a.m. at City Hall.