Saint John city council chambers. (Image: Ben Burnett)
After its previous plan proved controversial, the city has updated its snow-clearing operational plan for the upcoming winter season.
The city announced in November it would be reducing snow-clearing services overall due to financial constraints but would attempt to reconfigure its planning to improve overnight clearing.
Transportation Commissioner Michael Hugenholtz says they aren’t likely to announce any further changes this far into the year.
“I think we need to get into the winter season, see how we do relative to our service level standards and watch that over a number of storms,” he said.
The city’s earlier plan proved controversial after Councillor Ray Strowbridge voiced displeasure about the decision to cut service to all sidewalks in the Silver Falls neighbourhood.
Parents at Glen Falls School also submitted a petition to council after it was announced Tim Street, on the school’s south end, would not be cleared this winter.
The city announced it would service some sidewalks in Silver Falls and clear Tim Street sidewalks this winter at Monday night’s council meeting.
Hugenholtz said in trying to find the right balance of cost-effective clearance strategies, it’s important to ensure they provide consistent service to residents.
“We don’t want people wondering ‘oh, is my sidewalk going to get serviced for this storm or is it not?’ We try to figure out the maximum of what we can do consistently.”
Deputy Mayor Shirley McAlary complimented the commissioner for addressing the issues that were pointed out in November.
“Because we’ve had so many cutbacks in the city… Sometimes I think people ask for too much. They want everything done, exactly the same,” McAlary said. “We can’t do it all. For you and your team, you’ve done well to get the whole city covered.”
Meanwhile, Mayor Don Darling said he was troubled to see some streets, like Gaelic Drive, would have no snow-clearing services this year.
He asked Hugenholtz whether staff had considered looking at hiring out some routes in order to fit all streets within the $6 million budget.
“We certainly look at every opportunity to reduce our costs,” Hugenholtz said. “We all knew there were significant changes going into this year. Where we’re at now I believe represents the best value to the citizens that we can offer at this time.”
