City honours snow removal crew

Wayne Moore - Jan 20, 2009 CASTANET:
It was a form of recognition they have never received before. Nearly 150 members of the City of Kelowna snow removal crew packed City Council chambers Monday as they were honoured for their work over the past month. "This is something we've never done before," says Mayor Sharon Shepherd in introducing those in attendance. "We want to say thank you and recognize all the effort that you have had to embark on over the last four-and-a-half weeks." Transportation Services Manager, Dale Beaudry, who will retire later this year, told council his crew went almost non-stop from December 12 to January 10. "During that time, we spent $1.1 million of the $1.3 million budgeted for the season," says Beaudry. "Our longest straight stretch of work was 72 hours non-stop. During that time, the equipment stopped running just long enough to change drivers." Beaudry says crews plowed the equivalent of 1,550 km of roads, 380 km of sidewalks, 45 parking lots and all roads within the parks. "We cleared snow from around 8,000 catch basins, 1,950 fire hydrants, 754 culs-de-sac and dead end streets, 113 bus stops and multiple wheelchair ramps, which are too many to count." He adds 360 loads of snow were also removed from downtown, town centres, culs-de-sac and areas where sight lines were being compromised.

"I want to recognize our mechanical staff who repair and maintain equipment that was running around the clock. Last, but certainly not least, the very courageous staff that answer the calls coming in." Beaudry says callers invariably like to vent on the first person who answers the phone. "These ladies deal with them both professionally and courteously. These calls resulted in 585 service requests entered into the tracking system." While snow removal crews were able to enjoy their first weekend at home in a month last weekend, the break could be short lived. The long range forecast calls for snow flurries Thursday and Friday.