$500,000 snow day bill

by Wayne Moore CASTANET - Mar 27, 2015 / 5:00 am
The bill is in for clean-up for the three day 'extraordinary snow event' which all but crippled the City of Kelowna back in early January. Snow clearing and plowing for the storm which began 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 3 and end 8 p.m. Monday, Jan. 5 was $510,000. According to a report prepared by Public Works Manager Darryl Astofooroff the city used 75 staff and hired 12 additional contractors and equipment. The priority one, two and three streets were cleared by Wednesday, Jan. 7 with about 800 truck loads of snow taken away throughout the city. Astofooroff said the once a century event presented several challenges, not withstanding the sheer intensity of the storm which dropped up to 5cm of snow per hour on the city at its peak. He said parked vehicles impacted operations, additional equipment was difficult to find, snow piles were blocking sidewalks, bike lanes and driveways and it was a challenge to keep up with utilities, parking lots, sidewalks and transit stations. The city received nearly 750 service requests during the storm with a majority of those coming from people living on priority three streets. It's city policy that priority one streets, major arterial routes such as Springfield and Lakeshore roads, are plowed within eight hours following the end of a storm. It is also policy that priority two, three and four roads are not plowed until priority ones are complete and, if another storm occurs, attention again shifts to priority one roads.

Astofooroff said several improvements are under consideration for future events.
These include:
Parking restrictions on designated 'snow routes'
Open an emergency operations centre
Hire additional operators
Purchase additional and specialized equipment
Regular news releases and news conferences
Coordination with schools
Use of social media
He added the city could also use its website to provide storm updates, advise the community on how they can help, advise about parking restrictions and seek volunteer and contractor resources.
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Vernon Snow Costs: http://vernonblog.blogspot.ca/2015/02/big-snow-clearing-bill.html