With the first real blast of winter, Athabasca’s new chief administrative officer (CAO) got his first blast of complaints regarding efforts of getting the streets clean.
While Josh Pyrcz anticipated some complaints, he was a bit surprised by the litany of responses. He is happy with the way things are going so far, but admitted there are certainly things that need to be looked at.
“I’m impressed with the job our public works has done so far with the resources that they have,” he said in an interview last Wednesday.
“I give credit to Rick (Kolach, outside services superintendent) for stepping up and helping out to run the second grader during the recent major snowfall. That grader was originally set to be a spare, but recent events showed that we need to get people trained to operate that, and that’s happening.”
Current policy is that major streets – such as the highway, downtown and roads to schools – plus emergency routes are cleared within 72 hours of a major snowfall (13 cm or more) with other roads to be cleared on a set schedule once that is complete.
For any minor snowstorms, the emphasis on snow clearing will be on ensuring that there are no blocked roadways and that major arterial roads are returned to bare pavement state as soon as possible.
Plowing operations on residential roads shall be at the discretion of the outside services superintendent.
“We concentrate on those major routes and collector roads in those first three days, with policy setting out very specific priorities and duties once those are completed,” he said.
“The way that policy is currently structured with the timeline and priorities, the public response indicates there might be a need to look into more efficient and effective use of our current equipment.”
And this is why Pyrcz is undertaking a comprehensive review of the entire policy, including the use of equipment – both rented and town owned, manpower and street cleaning priorities.
“Administration is going to review the policy, and specifically taking a look at how we can do the job in the most effective and efficient way possible,” he stated.
“At the same time, we need to keep in mind that the policy needs to meet what council feels that the community expects.”
Pyrcz didn’t have a timeline for when the review would be completed.
