Council approves amended Winter Road Maintenance Policy

By Miriam Ostermann, Associate Editor

Frigid temperatures and a greater than normal snowfall resulted in an increase in demand for additional winter road service within residential neighbourhoods and subdivisions, as was evident through an influx of requests made with the Citizen Communication Forms. As a result administration brought forward amendments to council during the regular council meeting on March 7 regarding Policy 3201 –Winter Road Maintenance Policy – to provide public with clarity by setting priorities for maintenance routes and striving to set a measurable standard for services. Administration also moved some of the procedural matters and product selection items into a Winter Road Maintenance Procedure. Among other things, council was informed that the new policy will continue to put emphasis on sidewalks and pathways, add measurable standards to trigger snow removal, added contingency for extreme weather events, updated responsibilities to match current structure and practices and add a communication section to the policy.
While council praised administration for their effort during the last snow event, Councilor Tari Cockx was concerned about the area of Wildflower and Westmount Drive that showed only priority three roads and could result in a 72 hour wait for snow removal – a concern that was echoed by many of her fellow councillors. After some discussion administration said Wildflower Road and Westmount Road could be upgraded to a priority two.
Other councillors also questioned snow removal from non-priority roadways that will only be initiated in extreme conditions when the street snow storage exceeds 100 cm in height, drainage, and resources and costs.
“I know everybody wants every road to be priority one but that’s of course not reasonable with the staff and the equipment that we have,” said Councillor Bob Sobol.
“I appreciate the work that was done on this policy and I’m pleased to see that sidewalks that are the responsibility to the town, and pathways, will continue to receive attention after snowfalls. I support the policy. In retrospect I would’ve liked to have seen a comment in regards to the vision that included the word safety because I think when it’s all said and done that’s what this is all about, it’s a safety issue. The policy deals with those issues very well and I think it’s a brilliant piece of work.”
According to administration the annual snow removal budget is just over $400,000, which includes labour and contracting. Councillor Sobol also acknowledged comments made on social media and noted that municipal taxes pay for 270 different programs and services that includes snow removal. Councillor Lorraine Bauer and Councillor Denise Peterson also acknowledged praise they’ve received and noticed from the community regarding snow removal. Council unanimously passed a motion to adopt Policy 3201 – Winter Road Maintenance Policy as amended. To view the bylaw and for more information visit www.strathmore.ca.