‘We need to have a plan on the shelf:’ City administration to create major snow removal roadmap

We could get to see a roadmap of how the City of Saskatoon will handle future extreme snow events in the near future.

A motion passed unanimously Monday during Saskatoon City Council’s December meeting, which will allow administration to begin to develop a plan.

The motion was tabled by Coun. Randy Donauer.

“When we had our blizzard, (it) was the biggest single snowfall that Saskatoon has had in one or two decades and the administration was scrambling with how to respond to it. Normally, we don’t do snow clearing on residential streets. We only do major roads, and bus roads,” he told 650 CKOM following the meeting. “I thought we needed to come up with a plan for what to do when there’s a safety issue.”

Donauer said residents told him that they were literally stuck in their homes and on the street, unable to get to doctors appointments, prescriptions or groceries.

He said the city already has an emergency measures office, with full plans in events of chemical spills or floods. He now additionally wants a plan for major snowfalls, as we saw in early-November.

“(The administration will now) come up with a plan to basically, deal with the safety issues created for our residents when there’s a major snow event. I’m not just talking about large snow that we’re getting— I’m talking about one of these types of events. Sort of, a once in a decade event,” he explained.

Donauer said the snowfall in November was more accumulated snow than all of last year.

According to the ‘November 2020 Snowstorm Response – Financial Forecast Update,’ which was presented to council Monday, the snowstorm went over $10 million for what the city typically has in its reserves for snow removal— that sits at $4 million.

“The total cost of the November blizzard cleanup is now estimated to impact budgets by $14.5 million compared with the original estimate of $15.0 million,” the report reads.

Donauer said the November storm was a “tremendous learning opportunity,” and the city is hoping to be more prepared for the next major snow event.

This includes a trigger mechanism, including how much snow, what conditions would constitute the plan, along with costing out how much the removal would be.

“If this doesn’t happen again for several years, I think we need to have a plan on the shelf,” Donauer said.

The next step in developing the plan now is for city administration to draft it, with Donauer saying we could possibly see the next report go to council by the spring or summer months to review.