OLDS — In future winters, town residents may not see their residential streets cleared of snow by town staff and contractors.
In general, town council and staff agreed the time may have come to look at dropping that service, because it’s believed to be very expensive and some council members and staff don’t believe it’s offered in other towns the size of Olds.
The issue arose during town council’s Dec. 5 policies and priorities meeting.
Council members agreed unanimously to accept a report on the matter and direct administrative staff to bring it up for further discussion during a future council meeting.
In a report to council, operations director Scott Grieco said only five public works employees take care of most of the roadways in town.
Contractors with equipment such as big dump trucks and graders are hired to help out with snow removal.
Grieco said that process can cost the town $15,000 a day – not including town resources -- just to clear snow in Uptowne.
He and chief administrative officer Brent Williams noted that 20 days after the first major snowfall in town, all streets had not yet been cleared of snow.
It was explained that snow plowing involves just moving snow off to the sides of streets and avenues. Snow clearing involves scraping up all the snow on a street or avenue, dumping it into a tow truck and hauling it away to be dumped somewhere else.
Coun. James Cummings asked Grieco if the town’s practice of clearing snow in residential areas is typically offered in Alberta communities.
He said friends and family members in other Alberta communities have told him “their residential roads are never cleared of snow throughout the year.”
In essence, Grieco said no, that’s not commonly offered, especially in larger cities.
“This is a level of service which I would say is probably very, very high for the Town of Olds in terms of its cost," he said.
However, Grieco said it’s “a very, very good thing” to offer that service in the Uptowne area to make sure businesses there can operate.
"In my experience, both in Alberta and in research, snow plowing is a general ‘yes’ in 10 out of 10 municipalities. Snow removal is not,” Williams said.
Williams said given how expensive and how long the snow clearing process in Olds is perhaps it’s time – after this winter season is over – to have a debate on whether clearing snow throughout the community “is even worth it.”
“We’re 20 days into the first snow event and we still haven’t (got) the entire town cleared. So the efficacy versus the policy doesn’t seem to be lining up totally,” he said.
However, Williams agreed that all communities do seem to remove snow in their downtown streets as well as steep roads and bus routes.
Coun. Heather Ryan said before moving to Olds she lived in Calgary for about 20 years.
“I never had my residential street plowed or cleared at all in the whole 20 years I was there so I was really surprised when I moved to Olds and saw them removing snow off the street,” she said.
“I think it’s definitely something that we need to bring to service level review,” Ryan said, adding she’d like to find out how much it costs the town each season to clear snow in Olds.
She too agreed with the need to clear snow in Uptowne, though.
Cummings said he’d like to see a discussion not only about snow clearing in the town but other services offered, like winterized porta potties and the number of skating rinks created and maintained.
“I know today is not the time to do that, but it is the time to lay the foundation for reminding the community that – especially the ones who love to complain the snow is not moved fast enough – that they live in a community where snow is removed. And that is not common in communities of our size in this province,” Cummings said.
"I think the conversation moving forward in the next few years is going to be a reduction in services, not an increase in services of snow removal, as it is more common in our communities to be along those lines,” he added.
Deputy mayor Wanda Blatz agreed it’s time for administrative staff to look into the whole matter, including what level of snow clearing service other communities the size of Olds provide.
Mayor Judy Dahl said snow clearing is one of the topics on the agenda of an upcoming South Central Alberta Mayors’ meeting. She pledged to bring back what she hears on the topic to her fellow council members.
