MOOSE JAW — City council has updated its winter maintenance policy, which — among other changes — will see three new streets added to priority 2 clearing routes and an enhanced focus on customer service.
During its Dec. 16 executive committee meeting, council approved several recommendations:
- No. 1: Adopting an improved communications plan and adding Thunderbird Viaduct, Fourth Avenue Southwest from Lillooet Street to Home Street, and the north end of First Avenue Northwest as priority 2 snow clearing and hauling routes
- No. 2: Rejecting all other changes that city administration suggested
- No. 3: Having administration establish and communicate key performance indicators (KPIs) for all priorities outlined in the winter maintenance policy
- No. 4: Ordering administration to take immediate actions to meet the commitments in the policy
- No. 5: Having administration report on the results of the 2024-25 winter maintenance priorities and KPIs to executive committee in September 2025
- No. 6: Ordering administration to report to the executive committee in September 2025 on options to implement an enhanced winter maintenance policy, with some options including prioritizing roads, considering environmental conditions and snow accumulations that would trigger clearing activities, plowing roads, plowing sidewalks, plowing alleys, applying ice control on roads, removing snow on roads and from around schools, timelines for activity completions, flood mitigation measures during snow melting periods, and developing KPIs for all priorities
Council voted on each recommendation separately and adopted them all unanimously, except for No. 2, as Coun. Dawn Luhning was opposed to that recommendation.
These recommendations will become official when council approves the executive committee minutes during a future regular meeting.
Proposed changes
During the meeting, administration presented possible changes that came from a special council meeting council on Nov. 28 to discuss the winter maintenance policy, a council report said. This was in response to two consecutive snowstorms with above-average precipitation that month that “tested the capabilities” of city hall’s existing resources.
Of the proposed changes, notable ones included not clearing on-street parking stalls or removing windrows from in front of driveways so crews could work more quickly.
Council discussion
Coun. Chris Warren, who introduced the motions, said council was “in this together” with providing good service to residents. However, he wanted council to review the policy “more holistically” so the community could see that it was improving snow maintenance efforts.
The multi-part motion contained many items, but Warren noted that he focused on a few items that administration suggested so everyone could see immediate enhancements with existing equipment. Moreover, he wanted council to adhere to the policy that a previous council adopted in 2019.
“Back in 2019, we did increase the budget (by roughly $300,000) to ensure we had the dollars and resources to meet those conditions in the policy,” he said. “Four years later, I would expect we can do that.”
The KPIs would help council and administration when reviewing snow-clearing results in the fall to ensure the city met clearance timelines, what it needed to address winter conditions and where gaps existed, said Warren.
“I can appreciate adding three locations to the priority map will impact (clearing) timelines, but I would expect to see results and conversations around that … next year,” he added. “And I fully expect that if adding locations increases timelines, and if we want to meet those timelines, then we’ll need to add resources.”
In response, city manager Maryse Carmichael said it was unlikely that Moose Jaw had had back-to-back blizzards since 2019 or similar snow accumulation levels. She pointed out that city hall was unable to fulfill the policy’s snow-clearance timelines because it couldn’t respond on time.
Coun. Heather Eby liked how the recommendations took a measured approach to changing the policy and hoped to see changes in the future. Furthermore, she also appreciated the 2019 policy since people noticed a difference in snow-clearing services.
“This is a better way for us go at it instead of making a bunch of changes in the winter that people were not going to appreciate,” she added.
Coun. Carla Delaurier expressed concern about how the city went into winter without having the equipment it required to clear snow. She thought council needed to review the resources it was providing departments so they could be successful.
Luhning said she disagreed with rejecting all of administration’s other recommendations since council needed to consider all changes if it wanted to see snow-clearing activities improve. Moreover, she thought the city could conduct a pilot project of leaving windrows on some streets and seeing how that worked.
The next executive committee meeting is Monday, Jan. 13, 2025.
