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Photo by Curtis Galbraith.
By Curtis Galbraith
City Hall

City Council lowers snow removal operations trigger

Mar 11, 2025 | 6:01 AM

City Council has voted to decrease the snow removal trigger to 10 centimetres.

It had been set at 13 centimetres of snowfall before plowing starts.

Deputy Mayor Wade Pilat says the 13 centimetre target was meant to help with the city budget.

“We’ve had some pushback and there have been some areas of town that just haven’t seen the service level that I think council was hoping for with that trigger.”

“We’re just going to roll that trigger back to try and service levels back to where I think people have traditionally thought they should be.”

Pilat is hopeful this will reduce issues like icing.

“Some roads have been more significantly impacted than others. We’ve had graders run down some roads where they just bounce along the ice, and so now we’re sending out other equipment to do some areas of town.”

“For the most part, the city’s done a great job of getting most of the streets in the city looked after, but there have definitely been a few streets that… with this trigger and the icing that we’re having this year, just still aren’t up to the standards that we’re hoping they’d be.”

City administration says the current budget is based on the 13 centimetre trigger, which would mean three rotations of snow removal. The 10 centimetre trigger would add a rotation, meaning there could be a budget shortfall if there is a lot of snow.

Pilat says some years there is a surplus, some years there is a deficit.

“I’m not sure where we’re at this year yet. Administration is bringing a full report at the end of the season to give us that update. If it’s a red number, it’s the right thing to do. We have to do snow removal to get the city’s safety looked after,”

At its last meeting on February 24, council voted to go ahead with another round of snow removal after problems like ruts and flooded driveways showed up during the warm weather.

by Curtis Galbraith