With six snowplows and three tractors deployed, Town staff are doing everything they can to make sure roads and sidewalks in Pelham are cleared after snow events, Chief Administrative Officer David Cribbs says.
“Our staff have been out for 10 days straight. They have plowed every day since Jan. 11. They were out on a couple of days when the threshold – the threshold under the minimum maintenance standards – didn’t require it, but they were trying to clean up from other days.”
In the Town’s winter operations approach, plans are made on how crews will deal with snow based on forecasts from several sources. Once the snow begins to fall and reaches accumulations of 2.5 centimetres – or about an inch – sanding operations begin on arterial and collector roads as well as steep hills and sharp corners.
Plowing of sidewalks and parking areas at municipal facilities including Town Hall and the Meridian Community Centre starts when accumulations have reached five centimetres (about two inches). Plowing of roads in priority sequence – arterial, collector, rural and residential – begins when accumulations reach more than five centimetres. Post storm, snow is cleared from municipal sidewalks, commercial areas (if required), cul de sacs, bullnoses, and dead ends.
But as evident in letters to the editor received by PelhamToday, some residents are unhappy with the condition of roads.
Fonthill resident Jim Pitt, for one, said the Town has not done a good job cleaning up after recent snow falls. There are roads that have not been plowed and there are sidewalks that remained snow-covered.
“Core responsibilities are not being addressed,” Pitt wrote. “It’s probably time the local politicians had a word with the administration to figure out what needs to be done and when.”
The complaints, Cribbs said, may boil down to residents’ expectations.
“We had a really gentle start to the winter. We had a long, lovely fall and then a very mild early winter,” he said. "And the last two weeks have been – in fact, from Christmas onwards – it’s been quite harsh and quite hard.”
And as is true of all Town resources, there is little the Town can do without spending more money to get more equipment.
“I would submit that if residents are really bothered, they should contact their elected officials and indicate they’d like to have more money spent on equipment and winter operations," Cribbs said. “We’re not understaffed. You can always argue the fleet should be bigger and I guess I can accept that argument, but that comes down to an expenditure issue.”
Mayor Marvin Junkin said no one has contacted him.
“I have not had one complaint come to me personally, or to my office,” Junkin said. “Obviously, with my sister falling and then breaking her wrist, I’m aware that there are difficulties.”
Junkin was referring to a fall his sister, Lois Lacroix, experienced in December while out for a walk.
In her own letter to PelhamToday, LaCroix wrote: “My point in telling this story is to highlight the need for clear walkways. I concur with previous writers that the Town could improve the clearing of walkways and ensuring snow is cleared to pavement level and sand applied.”
The Mayor said he plans to sit downs with CAO Cribbs and Jason Marr, the Town’s Director of Public Works, to discuss the situation and see if there is anything to be done and “just to make sure that everyone’s aware of the standards and of the complaints from the residents."
Cribbs, meanwhile, said there are some things residents can do in the meantime to help Town staff get the streets cleared in a timely manner.
“Bylaw has been out ticketing – pretty heavily – cars parked on both sides of the road in new development areas,” he said. “But it’s very clearly signed which side you can and which side you can’t park, and that’s certainly making life a challenge, in Fonthill in particular.”
With vehicles parked on both sides of the street it makes it impossible for the plows to clear streets properly.
“Plowing is far less effectual because of how they have to try to navigate those relatively narrow roads, or if there’s a second vehicle on it, do a good job plowing. It becomes very problematic.”