Snow Plowing Budget Increase Proposals….
To make a bit of a long story quite short, in the last couple of years, we have had a few very challenging snow plowing years in Kamloops. Mother Nature has given us a lot, with more intensity, and with less reprieves between major snowfalls. Our city crews have been awesome but it’s been very hard to keep up.
This has generated more community concern.
City staff have researched the issues and opportunities and have presented council with a proposal to increase the annual snow removal budget from 1.6 million dollars a year to 2 million dollars a year. This would be to add three new staff, 2 new trucks, and a bit of new technology and training. More details in the photos below.
This would help city staff keep up with the existing service levels of snow plowing, mainly making sure local roads are plowed by established times.
Significantly, this would not change any city service levels with regards to windrows or snow piles that accumulate on curbs in the city. We received important complaints about these this past winter. I would like to better understand the cost of not having such large windrows accumulate in sensitive areas of the city and I will be asking council to support a report from city staff to research windrow removal practices and costs.
We will be making a final decision on these proposals in a future council meeting.
Arjun Singh
Arjun is a trained facilitator and is currently co-chair of the Canadian Community for Dialogue and Deliberation.
Arjun was born and raised in Kamloops. His parents, Dr Gur and Mrs Manju Singh, immigrated to Canada from India in the 1960s. He previously served on council from 2005-2008. He has a MA in Professional Communication from Royal Roads University and a Certificate in Dialogue, Deliberation, and Public Engagement from Fielding Graduate University.
Arjun welcomes your questions or feedback on any community issue or initiative.
Since 2005, he has written a blog for Kamloops citizens and people interested in Kamloops – www.yourkamloops.com.
You can also find Arjun on twitter at @yourkamloops or @arjunsingh.
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