When City Councillors
approved a new snow plowing policy that was designed to save taxpayers
$1.8 million annually from the winter road clearing budget, it sounded on
paper as if it could turn out to be a great plan. However, the problems
and challenges that have arisen since January clearly indicate that this
Council and future Councils, would be wise to avoid tampering with one of
the main services that affect every single person in the municipality. And
judging from the feedback, the
new City
snow plowing policy would receive a failing grade from virtually all
residents.
It appears as if the biggest
problem lies in the core principle of the policy to provide a multi-level
standard of service. The new system provides for the less frequent plowing
of some residential and rural roads, while the most heavily traveled roads
in the city are to be plowed more frequently. The result is that the
heavily traveled roads are being plowed almost too often while the side
streets wait the better part of the day to be cleared.
Under the new policy, most
residential roads - the ones found in subdivisions - are to be cleared in
an eight to 24 hour time frame after an accumulation of 8 cm of
snow. Since it may take a whole day or night to accumulate that much snow,
and then another 8 to 24 hours to get the snow plow to the street, it is
not unusual to have almost a whole day go by before a snow plow comes by
to clear your street.
For example, during one
major winter storm which began at around
5 p.m.
on February 4, the subdivision in Val Therese where this writer lives did
not get plowed until after
4 p.m.
the following day. Even trucks and SUV’s were having difficulty
traveling along the street as they swerved back and forth in tracks made
by previous vehicles. It was virtually impossible for two oncoming
vehicles to get by each other due to the high drifting along the side of
the street. Anyone in a small vehicle was snow bound for the entire day
since it would have been fruitless to even attempt to travel the streets.
This poor level of service
would never have been allowed under the former regional government system
which existed prior to amalgamation. Streets were always passable under
the old system and it was not uncommon for residents to have to shovel out
the end of their driveway two or three times during the day after snow
plows went by. Under the new policy adopted by Council for the 2005-2006
winter season, the storm is usually over before many of the streets get
plowed. In the “old days” the municipality adopted a multi-level of
service as well, making sure to keep the most heavily traveled routes
cleared more often. However, it appears as if the upper level of service
that has been adopted by the current council is what would have been the
minimal level of service for side streets under the former regional
government structure.
DANGEROUS
SITUATION FOR EMERGENCY VEHICLES
Valley East
, Capreol and all of the outlying communities rely upon volunteer
firefighters to respond to emergencies. When these volunteers are paged,
they must respond immediately and travel quickly to the designated address
to deal with the emergency. Fortunately, there were no fires or major
accidents during the snowstorm on the first weekend of February. However,
had there been a fire call, many of the volunteers would have had a great
deal of difficulty responding in a timely manner because of the conditions
of the side streets. Indeed, a fire on one of the side streets would have
been extremely challenging. For example, if this writer would have had a
fire in his home, it is hard to imagine seeing four fire vehicles as well
as fifteen to twenty volunteer cars on my street.
With
an overall budget of less than $10,000,000 per year for the winter
maintenance of road ways in the region, the attempt to save $1.8 million,
or almost 20% of the total was now clearly a mistake in the minds of most
ratepayers who feel that it is impossible to reduce the expenditure by 20%
without a substantial reduction in service. Many residents feel that City
staff ought to have known that they were asking for problems when the
proposal was suggested.
SOLUTION MUST
BE FOUND IMMEDIATELY
The
tolerance level of ratepayers has been tested to the limit. It is
imperative that a new snow removal policy be put in place which will see
residential streets plowed once every six hours during snow storms in
order to allow for safe transportation. The major routes may be plowed more frequently,
but the residents must see an improvement in the level of this very
important service. The City spends over $300 million in total salaries and
benefits during the course of the year. It should be easy enough to find
another $2 million to improve one of the most important and observable services provided
to ratepayers.
Snow removal, garbage pick up, water services, fire protection, police
protection and road repair are the most observable services that people
receive for their taxes. It is imperative that ratepayers feel that they
are getting their money's worth in these areas.
COUNCIL NOT SATISFIED, BUT NOT WILLING TO CHANGE
POLICY
On March 8, 2006, Councillors once again revisited the snow removal
policy, and even though many of them have indicated that their
constituents are not happy with the way things have been handled this
year, the majority of them voted to keep the new policy in place.
What is puzzling many observers is why Council has decided to stick with a
policy that is clearly flawed. It is easy to say that the worst is over
this year and simply let be until after the elections in November.
However, some feel that a decision on how we will be handling the snow
removal during the winter of 2006-2007 should be dealt with right now, not
in the fall.
Once again, the major problem with the new policy is that snow clearing
does not begin until there is an accumulation of 8 cm on the streets. This
means that by the time the plows get to some of the streets, some 8 to 24
hours later, the accumulation could be almost 20 to 30 cm, making it
impossible for anyone to get around the streets. Indeed, there were
reported incidents of ambulances and even snow plows getting stuck in the
snow.
