Halifax regional council blasts snow removal report recommendations

"Sloppy", "incomplete" and "not good" enough were some of the responses from Halifax regional councillors to a staff report that was supposed to pinpoint, and change, practices that led to some appalling conditions on municipal roads and sidewalks last winter.

Winter operations superintendent Darrin Natilono was bombarded with complaints Tuesday for the report based on an $80,000 review of snow removal operations conducted by Grant Thornton.

"I don't want to hear any more excuses about how bad the weather was," said Coun. Matt Whitman of Hammonds Plains-St. Margarets. "I want to hear what we can do to improve standards."

Accessibility, especially for people with mobility problems, forced people to become shut-ins for long periods of time during the winter. High snowbanks that prevented people from using crosswalks and bus stops were especially concerning, said Coun. Linda Mosher of Armdale-Peninsula West.

She said the report focused largely on budget issues, not public safety. She called for ways to improve standards at bus stops, crosswalks and residential streets where emergency vehicles were hampered by cars parking on snow-clogged roadways.

'I went through five shovels'

Paul Vienneau who was in council chambers Tuesday uses a wheelchair. But that didn't stop him from getting out and shoveling intersections in the neighbourhood off Spring Garden Road where he lives.

"I went through five shovels," he said. Finally a friend got him an "indestructible" snow shovel called "The Boss." He was so impressed with the device, he got a tattoo of it on his arm.

Vienneau said he hopes snow removal will be improved to prevent him from being restricted to his block as he was for eight weeks last winter. But he isn't taking any chances. He said he plans to keep his shovel supply fully stocked, just in case.

Coun. Waye Mason, who represents Peninsula South-Downtown, also said he was frustrated with the staff report.

"It feels sloppy to me to be honest. This isn't good enough."

Another report requested

The councillors wanted an outline of how to be better prepared for severe weather, especially when it includes cycles of rain, snow and freezing. 

"I feel incredible anger," Coun. Jennifer Watts of Peninsula North said. She said the city and its private contractors failed to respond aggressively to preventing ice buildup on streets and sidewalks.

"Ice events are very different from snow events. We waited for it to melt. That was a bad decision. It didn't happen."

Council ended up voting to have another report prepared by staff to look at upgrading snow clearing standards and the costs associated with the improvements.

The report recommends road graders be placed on retainer so they can be pulled into service quickly when road conditions begin to deteriorate due to a buildup of ice and snow layers, Natolinio said.

23,000 snow removal-related calls

The staff report also recommended increasing the 311 call centre capacity to respond to calls and emails during severe weather events. The call centre logged 23,000 snow-removal related calls during the 2015 winter season.

Natolino defended the report, saying "I am completely comfortable with our level of confidence going forward."

Council did vote in favour of report recommendations to increase 311 call centre capacity, increasing capacity of monitoring and measuring snow removal performance, improving parking ban compliance, adding additional equipment as needed and stabilizing winter operation expenditures.

It also approved extending the remaining nine sidewalk service contract routes through to the 2016-2017 winter season.