Mop up continues on slush-covered streets

KELOWNA Snow removal crews will be working well beyond their typical guidelines by trying to run a plow over all 450 kilometres of city sidewalk in the next couple of days.

That's unusual, in part because the city and residents rely to a certain extent on warmer temperatures to melt snow before it becomes a problem, but city roadways operations supervisor Stephen Bryans says this was far from a typical snowfall and most residents haven't kept up with removing snow from sidewalks.

“This has been an extraordinary event,” Bryans says. "We're going to try to help out."

The city’s snow and ice control policy sets out the standards the municipality tries to meet and makes responsibility for snow removal fall on property and business owners. It doesn’t hurt that, despite the size of the storm, it won’t break the city’s snow removal budget of $1.5 million. 

“We’re in a new budget year so we’re all right so far,” Bryans said. “Of course, winter isn’t over yet.”

He said the precise cost of the huge snow removal effort won’t be known for a few more days.

“We’re still moving it off the roads,” he adds.

Despite a number of complaints to city hall, Bryans said he was satisfied with this week's snow removal operation, both before and after the storm, which he said was like “trying to hit a moving target.”

Still, he said the city will look to their response to see what could be done differently the next time there’s a big snow storm.

“There’s always room for improvement,” he says. “We haven’t debriefed yet. Ask me next week."

Bryan added that city crews, including additional hired contractors, continue to work around the clock pulling snow from around transit stops and side streets.

To contact the reporter for this story, email John McDonald at jmcdonald@infotelnews.ca or call 250-808-0143. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

John McDonald

John began life as a journalist through the Other Press, the independent student newspaper for Douglas College in New Westminster. The fluid nature of student journalism meant he was soon running the place, learning on the fly how to publish a newspaper.

It wasn’t until he moved to Kelowna he broke into the mainstream media, working for Okanagan Sunday, then the Kelowna Daily Courier and Okanagan Saturday doing news graphics and page layout. He carried on with the Kelowna Capital News, covering health and education while also working on special projects, including the design and launch of a mass market daily newspaper. After 12 years there, John rejoined the Kelowna Daily Courier as editor of the Westside Weekly, directing news coverage as the Westside became West Kelowna.

But digital media beckoned and John joined Kelowna.com as assistant editor and reporter, riding the start-up as it at first soared then went down in flames. Now John is turning dirt as city hall reporter for iNFOnews.ca where he brings his long experience to bear on the civic issues of the day.

If you have a story you think people should know about, email John at jmcdonald@infonews.ca

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