WESTLOCK - It took eight days, hundreds of hours and a little more than $100,000 to clear the streets of Westlock following the first big snowfall of the year mid-November.
At town council’s Dec. 13 meeting, operations director Robin Benoit debriefed council on their efforts following the Nov. 15 blizzard which dumped 20 centimetres of snow on the region. With most of the costs now accounted for, Benoit said the final bill is $108,000.
“That’s the cost of hiring equipment, our staff time, including overtime, plus the cost of our equipment as well,” Benoit told council. “This is what one big event costs.”
Council gave high marks to Benoit and his crews, noting the town-organized Light Up activities were held downtown Friday, Nov. 19, and didn’t miss a beat.
“It seemed like a well-oiled machine. They were just smoking down the road doing their thing and the minute the snow was gone, the sanding truck came in. Job well done for sure,” said Coun. Curtis Snell.
“I really like your new approach and your analysis,” added mayor Ralph Leriger.
Benoit wrote that high winds during the initial snowfall significantly impacted lanes and for safety reasons they were cleared at the same time as the adjacent roads. Because the snow was in an uncompacted state they were able to clear lanes efficiently with the loader — they pushed the snow from the lanes into the windrow on the street that had been created by the grader.
“The number of kilometres we have in lanes is significant and a lot of people have their garage access off lanes,” Benoit explained. “So one of the things we noted early on was that while we were working in an area it was best for us to push the lanes out into the windrows we created and haul it all away at the same time. Typically in our snow removal policy lanes are done at the end. But our calls were about four to one — four calls on lanes and one on roads.”
During their efforts, one grader, one loader, one tractor with a snow blower, two sidewalk plows, one backhoe and five hired tandem trucks were used. Benoit said that the tractor that propels the snow blower broke down “about two hours from (the work) being complete.” Subsequent repairs to the clutch and drivetrain are estimated at around $17,000 and will keep it out of service for one month — a rental unit, if required, is lined up in the interim.
Benoit said operations conducted a “lessons learned” debrief after the operation on “what went well, what we found and to continue to improve things.” They also tracked their progress daily and will use that information to “create efficiencies” and better handle the next big event.
He wrote that the five tandem trucks used for snow hauling “provided for a good balance in time management and minimized wait times.” But the increased number of trucks hauling snow identified a shortage in the number of temporary no-parking signs available and created limits on the amount of work they could finish daily — subsequently, more signs have been bought.
“With the five trucks we didn’t have any down time. We were able to continue throughout,” he said. “It was a little more expensive to operate that way ... but adding the fifth truck allowed us to keep going without halting operations.”
He also wrote that during the debriefing some safety concerns were noted with sidewalks and trail plowing such as sharp drop-offs along the new 100th Street trail. Meanwhile, the handheld radios used in the equipment will require upgrades as it was noted that the range “was significantly reduced.”
Benoit also talked about the work bylaw enforcement did to ensure the vehicles were off the streets, as well as the town’s communications department in alerting residents to the plow schedule. Ultimately, six vehicles were tagged and towed, but having the streets free of parked vehicles saved approximately 20 minutes per block.
“That had a significant impact in the time it took us to remove the snow,” he said. “And it also makes it more safe as we’re not working around vehicles.”
Coun. Murtaza Jamaly, noting recent budget discussions and the fact that less snow means the town can sock away more money, appreciated the department's efforts to find efficiencies saying the “best laid plans account for nothing if Mother Nature has her own plans.”
