The snow removal season is once again upon us, with huge white mounds lining every driveway and sidewalk - friendly reminders that hint at aching backs, tight and swollen knees. Fortunately, this is nothing new.
The snow removal season is once again upon us, with huge white mounds lining every driveway and sidewalk - friendly reminders that hint at aching backs, tight and swollen knees. Fortunately, this is nothing new. We've been here before, and we have systems and equipment at the ready in order to help us deal with all of this white mess.
County of St. Paul
Out in the County of St. Paul, a large fleet of snow removal equipment is on hand for whenever the weather decides to turn.
“We have 15 graders, seven sanding trucks, and two one-tons with blades for snow removal,&” said Sheila Kitz, the County's Chief Administrative Officer. “Our policy is to have the roads cleared in five days - although generally we are completing that task much sooner. We do have 2,029 km of road to maintain.&”
As far as the priority goes for snow removal in the County, the people undertaking the task tend to use a methodical approach.
“The operators start on one end of their grader beat and continue to the end, and they reverse the process the next time,&” Kitz said. “So in essence someone is first and someone is last - that is just the reality of snow removal.&”
The County will clear personal driveways for a fee using a system of snow flags. These flags can be purchased at the County Office, Public Works Shop or the Town of Elk Point for $20 each, and seniors can obtain the flags at no cost.
“The flags must be put up so that our operators can see them,&” Kitz said. “We also ask that if County residents are clearing their own driveways that they do not push the snow onto the county road, making it unsafe for the traveling public - or impeding County snow removal.&”
Town of St. Paul
According to Francois Mahe, the Town of St. Paul's public works manager, there is a process in place when it comes to deciding which roads will be cleaned in which order. They start with the arterial roads - the main roads coming into town - and then they go on to clean the emergency response areas, namely the areas around the hospital, the police station, the courthouse, and the schools.
“From there we keep going until we do a whole round of the town,&” Mahe said. “Depending on whether or not you get more snowfalls, you may have to go back and do your main arteries again.&”
The Town is using a new piece of equipment this year in order to help assist with the cleanup.
“We purchased a new snow blower this spring, so we've just started going with that to help speed things up,&” Mahe said. “We still windrow with graders, and then we'll come behind with the snow blower, which is on a big loader unit, and we pump it into the trucks.&”
From there, the snow is taken to one of the Town's snow deposit sites. As winter cleanup goes, the season can be a difficult one to predict.
“We try to trust the forecast, but that thing changes every day. You figure that you have it under control, and then all of a sudden the weather takes its own turn,&” Mahe said. “People have to be patient. It's still Alberta, things change in a hurry. But we are prepared to deal with it, and we're equipped for it.&”
Bylaw
Residents of the Town of St. Paul have an added level of accountability this winter, after making an expectation that people shovel formalized with a new bylaw that was passed this spring. The bylaw states that, “A Person shall maintain any Sidewalk adjacent to Property they Own or Occupy clear of all snow and ice.&”
According to St. Paul Peace Officer Ryan Berezanski, the rules used to only apply to commercially owned and institutional buildings.
“This year, it's every property that has a sidewalk right next to it,&” Berezanski said, going on to add that those who fail to comply could face a $175 fine for their first offence, and a $350 fine for subsequent offences. It could also happen that the town has the resident's sidewalk cleaned, with the resident being asked to foot the bill.
“Some bylaws are created because of complaints caused by certain issues,&” said Town CAO Ron Boisvert. “This would probably be one where we had a bunch of people that didn't clean their sidewalks, so we had to put a bylaw in place where we could enforce that they clean their sidewalks.&”
Berezanski doesn't anticipate any specific problems in the bylaw's first year.
“I think it's going to be fine,&” he said. “Generally, from what I've seen so far, people are in compliance. We just ask for people to go out and attempt to shovel the sidewalks and help everyone out.&”
“In our newsletter and everything, we've always been encouraging people to clean their sidewalks,&” Boisvert said. “This just has more teeth to it.&”
Snow Angels
For the members of the community who worry they will not be able to abide by this bylaw, there is a program in place that could help. It's called the “Snow Angels&”, an initiative put in place by the Town of St. Paul Family and Community Support Services.
“It's intended to create awareness for the needs of individuals, to help a neighbour who might need help with snow shoveling,&” said FCSS director Oralee Williams.
Essentially, the program is meant to connect those in need of assistance with the people who are willing to lend a hand. The program has been in place for at least two years now, and Williams and her group are always looking for more volunteers.
“If they want to be a Snow Angel, they can simply shovel for a person in need in their neighbourhood - it can be a senior, a person with disabilities, mobility issues, or maybe their neighbor is having surgery and they are recovering,&” Williams said. “Or, if they want to sign up with us, they can just give us a call here at the office, and then we can match them up with a person of need in their area.&”
All Snow Angels will be entered into a monthly draw as an added incentive, but according to Williams, there are many other benefits to signing up.
“The program is more about people connecting, because winter can be long and lonely for some of these people,&” she said. “It's also about having fun with winter. It's a long season, so it's about getting out there and doing something, and making someone else's day better.&”
