The following article appeared in the November 24 edition of the Guelph Mercury:
After a long discussion last night, councillors voted in favour of continuing to plow sidewalks, at least for now.
That’s even though councillors expressed significant concern about the quality and speed of the service.
Council heard that even though the city committed to clearing sidewalks within 20 hours of a snowfall, it in fact takes significantly longer — between 24 hours for high priority sidewalks and 72 hours for regular residential sidewalks.
The problem was exacerbated last year when the city committed to plow bus stops as well, something that added 11.5 hours of shovelling, councillors heard.
And they heard that residents complain about the quality of the service, because on top of taking longer, plows cannot clean the sidewalk as well as a person with a shovel can.
“It is impossible to have a perfectly cleared service with the mechanical technology we’re using,” said Sam Mattina, the city’s manager of roads.
“If the goal is to have a perfectly clear sidewalk, then other techniques need to be used.”
At the same time, councillors heard the cost of sidewalk maintenance wouldn’t drop much if the city stopped shovelling. Beth Brombal, with the city’s operations department, estimated a savings of $2 per household per year.
That led Councillor Ian Findlay to conclude Guelph residents are getting good service for their money.
“We’re getting a Cadillac service for a Pinto price,” he said.
Training people to start shovelling their sidewalks when they’re used to the city doing it can be difficult, staff told councillors.
An attempt to do that in Burlington caused so much frustration the city withdrew that decision, Derek McCaughan, director of operations, told councillors. That kind of effort would require extensive and potentially expensive communication plans.
Estimating the cost of sidewalk shovelling is difficult in part because of how much snow fall varies year to year, Mattina told council.
Continuing the service passed 11-1, with Coun. Leanne Piper voting against.
The city will continue its assessment of the service through focus groups.