In what has become an annual winter meeting presentation, Perth Director of Environmental Services Grant Machan updated council on how his department handles snow plowing and removal during and after storms. Machan laid out the top priorities that staff focus on first.
Schools and Churches are included the higher priority areas, but can be bypassed if schools are closed as is the case with churches during non-church days. The next on the list are secondary areas which are collector roads. Local streets in subdivisions and cul-de-sacs are last to be plowed.
Machan also covered when salt and or sand is applied.
Machan noted that all staff involved in winter road maintenance are trained on all the different equipment to give the Town flexibility in scheduling and to be able to respect sufficient break time for operators between shifts.
He listed the equipment the Town owns to tackle the tasks.
The Town maintains 98 km of road lanes, 45 km of sidewalks and 8 municipally-owned parking lots. He also urges vehicle owners to comply with winter parking restrictions and states there is a handful that consider the fines acceptable in order to park on the streets between 1 and 6 am. He also asked private snow contractors to stop pushing snow onto public roads and sidewalks.
Story by Brian Turner
