Community angry about poor snow removal

By Miriam Ostermann, Associate Editor

Frustrated and angered residents are taking to social media and contacting the town office regarding the lack of snow removal, poor road conditions and snow banks blocking in vehicles.
Snowfall blanketed Strathmore on the night of Oct. 31 and continued for most of that week. Since then, residents are complaining about getting stuck on residential roads, unplowed school-bus routes, and vehicles sustaining damage from piles of ice and slush left behind on the streets.
“On Friday I came home from work and it was close to eight to 10 inches of ice and slush, and so I couldn’t get my minivan out to leave … and I damaged my Civic – my smaller car – the same night I came home because I couldn’t get onto my street. So I had to get a run on to get up that hill, and damaged the bottom of my bumper,” said Robbie Nauffts, a three-year resident of Strathmore who lives on Centre Street.
“If they want us to follow the example of having everything shoveled, they should probably set it themselves. Right now that’s the biggest complaint people have: ‘If I’m expected to have my walk shoveled in 48 hours, why isn’t the road cleared in 48 hours?’”
Under Strathmore bylaw, residents are required to remove snow and ice on the sidewalk and pathways attached to their property, within 48 hours of a snowfall.
According to Nauffts, snow removal in previous years had been superb. This year, however, he said it seems that a grader drove up and down the street leaving a snow pile off to the side.
Lawrence Carriere, who lives in Aspen Creek, agreed with the change over recent years, and even contacted the Town of Strathmore when his truck was stuck in his driveway last year. After receiving no satisfactory response and observing similar road conditions so far this season, Carriere is toying with the idea of approaching Strathmore’s council.
“I literally couldn’t get my truck out of my driveway, and I didn’t receive any kind of response from them at all,” he said about his experience last year.
He added he eventually received an email from the town directing him to the town’s procedures.
“This year it’s the same thing. These roads are horrible, soupy, you can’t get moving and people are getting stuck all over the place,” he said. “There’s no cleaning going on … it’s so frustrating and seems to be getting worse every year. I understand that these residential roads may not be on top of the list, but we live in a country where it’s a guarantee, you’re going to get snow … it should already be in the budget.”
Carriere in particular mentioned partially covered intersections, covered merging lanes and pathways, and sidewalks not located in front of homes left untouched.
Meetings and discussions have taken place at the town municipal office regarding the problem and according to Mayor Pat Fule the snowfall caught administration by surprise in accordance with fewer operators.
“We were a bit short staffed – we’ve already taken steps to address that and do some clearing – and it was an early snow event that caught us,” said Fule, adding two new operators have been employed.
“I think we’ve made some mistakes, but I think we’re ready to own them and move on. We’re going to be very diligent and be ready from now on. We are aware of a lot of the problem areas and trucks and plows have been working. The plan is to do a much better job the next time we have a snow event. We’re on it.”
Warmer temperatures earlier this week have already begun melting some of the snow, and signs have popped up around several areas in town earlier this week regarding snow removal.