The Weather is Nice But We Still Need to Talk About Snow & Ice

Apr 25

While it’s warming up, we still can’t forget about snow/ice. It was a hard snow and ice season between the weather and many lessons learned about services going forward. Today at committee there was a much needed conversation about snow and ice expectations and standards as well as the associated costs.

In short, we as a city are not meeting our service standards with the current resources. Budget has decreased by 14% and yet our mobility network has grown by 21.2% since 2016. This leaves this Council with some significant decisions on service levels as well as budget.

A motion and several amendments were put forward at committee and will come back to Council on May 9th. The direction Administration receives prepares for the next winter season and the 4 year budget.

Items for direction include:

funding amounts to improve timelines to road service and active pathway clearing
addressing staff shortages for complete utilization of city-owned equipment.

Exploring additional enhancements such as:

seniors residential clearing
assisted snow programs
changes to the community sandbox program
enforcement considerations
windrow removal

Budget decisions have yet to be made so please continue to let me know your thoughts on what’s important for you.

Snow and ice clearing is a core service that is vital to how we move around our City. I’m committed to finding a way forward that balances services, accessibility, climate change adaptability and budget increases.