An Airdrie councillor would like the City to explore the possibility of including private contractors in the municipality’s snow clearing efforts.
Following a presentation about the City of Airdrie’s snow removal policy at the Feb. 1 council meeting, Coun. Candice Kolson requested staff to look into the feasibility of allowing private citizens and contractors to assist City crews in clearing snow – particularly in residential areas after large snowfalls like the one experienced on Dec. 21, 2020.
“I understand damage, liability, those types of things, but in our last big snow events, we had many private contractors who have insurance who are willing to take on that risk of helping their neighbours get plowed out,” Kolson said. “I’m just wondering if there’s ever been any consideration as to how we can develop a terms of reference or a way to help those private contractors register with the City and be able to do that.”
The query arose after Mike Avramenko, the team lead for the City of Airdrie’s roads department, presented the City’s snow removal policy. The policy, updated in 2015, outlines how the municipality responds to snow clearing on the municipality's roadways.
The policy includes a $1.75 million annual budget, a Snow Maintenance Extreme Weather Reserve – which has $1.034 million in it as of Sept. 30, 2020, according to Avramenko – and a five-priority rating system for roadways in Airdrie.
“In the event of an extreme snowfall, all policy-defined service levels can be delivered effectively on priority 1 to 4 and 5 roadways, by combining staff currently scheduled and calling in additional staff to ensure all equipment is utilized,” he said.
Kolson’s question asked whether the City could develop a permitting system to include private contractors for residential snow-clearing efforts. Currently, the City's roads department has a core staff of 24 snow-clearing employees who operate on a 24/7 rotation from mid-October to mid-April. Residential roads are considered the fifth priority for snow-clearing crews.
Director of Community Infrastructure Lorne Stevens responded to Kolson that there are risk management and liability concerns associated with allowing citizens to conduct snow removal alongside City crews, as private contractors could potentially interfere with public vehicles or emergency vehicles.
“I’m not saying we couldn’t have a look at that, but it could be quite considerable to manage when our crews and staff are busy doing their primary responses,” he said.
Avramenko echoed the CAO’s remarks, saying there are other factors in place that muddy the waters, such as a legislative requirement to properly dispose of snow piles.
“If there’s damage that occurs to public or private property, how would we vet who did what?” he said. “Obviously, these private contractors, when they’re doing a favour, they’re not being invoiced by the City. We wouldn’t know who, what or how to chase down the damage.”
Mayor Peter Brown concurred, saying the City explored the idea of having private contractors work alongside the City’s snow removal workers back in 2015 and it wasn’t a viable option.
Couns. Ron Chapman and Al Jones chimed in that they, likewise, would be concerned about liability.
“The moment we give them a permit, technically, whether they’re volunteering their time or not, they become part of our organization,” Jones said. “I would assume we would have to cover them as far as insurance requirements go. I’m not sure how that would work. I’m not against it, I just don’t think it could be done.”
But Kolson remained adamant about the idea, bringing up examples of some residents being unable to get out of their cul-de-sacs following an intense snowfall, and having to wait days or weeks before the City was able to clear it.
At the tail end of the discussion, she requested City staff to explore the feasibility of developing a system for private, insured contractors to assist with snow removal at a cost to residents.
“We have a lot of permits for a lot of things within the city,” Kolson said. “As far as liability goes, I think we do a good job of dealing those things, whether it’s delivery of materials [or] contractors digging up roads that need to be dealt with. We have a permit process in place for those things.
“I know this would be a lot of work, but in the long run, I would love to see the City invest in it.”
Scott Strasser, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @scottstrasser19
