New Snow Removal and Fleet Plan
Plenty of snow in P.G. last winter
Prince George, B.C. – City of Prince George staff will be bringing a new snow removal routes plan to Council in October.
The route plan is part of the snow removal and fleet services changes recommended by a consultant’s report on the snow removal and state of the City’s fleet assets.
The report was produced by Mercury Associates based in Washington, D.C.
Councilor Brian Skakun says it is what it is, “ but I’m embarrassed having someone come in from the outside and tell us all the things we’re doing wrong.” Skakun says the snow removal last year was dismal “We should never have been put in this position, the residents should never have been put in the position, where in my opinion health and safety was at risk.” He says he is amazed some of the fleet vehicles were even on the street and that employees were able to do their jobs.
Councilor Cameron Stolz says Council has known since 2009 that its fleet was in trouble, and should take responsibility for the state of the fleet. The consultant’s report notes that 16 pieces of equipment should be junked and more than half of the fleet will need to be replaced next year.
Staff have already started entering a process to prepare fleet for the winter season and are working on procuring two extra graders, so that when some of the older graders are down, there will still be graders on the street. There will also be a retainer system in place to ensure there is equipment available from independent contractors.
Director of Public Works, Bill Gaal says staff are developing their work plan and will have it complete by next Monday. In advance of the winter season, all snow crews will have ‘Think Snow’ training, as equipment operator positions are filled, gaps will be determined and training positions will be established.
There will also be training, a new weather forecasting system hired, weather sensors upgraded and two more added. There will be budget implications for this year, and there will be $400 thousand added to the capital budget for next year.
“I’m going to say the obvious, we’re a winter city” says Councilor Lyn Hall , who points out there have been previous mayors and staff who have attended winter city conferences to deal with snow removal issues “The community expects us to have grade A snow removal, but we’ve heard that loud and clear over the years. We’ve heard they want their roads done in summer, potholes fixed, paving done, reclamation done, and we’ve heard loud and clear that snow removal is an issue, so for us not to have it as a priority and not to provide grade A service to the community will not fly.” He says he suspects there are a lot of things in the report that City Hall already knew before calling on a consultant to look at the issues.
“The report peels back the onion and shows the deficiencies we have when it comes to fleet” says Councilor Frank Everitt “I do know this, the reasons won’t matter to the citizens of Prince George if we have another significant snowfall, and we must obtain the equipment necessary.”
Comments
City has mismanaged their finances for so long it is not funny.
To say now that they never knew how bad things are is proof.
I am not just blaming this council but previous ones as well.
Stay tuned more revelations coming soon.
This sound just like the worker blaming his tools for poor workmanship. You can have the best of equipment in the world but they are no good if not used correctly.
Is the dead town (downtown) still going to be plowed first?
That was a dreadful idea brought into effect a few years ago. Maybe with a certain business down there being boarded up and a new mayor coming soon we won’t have to subsidize that area of town anymore?
Who brain stormed the idea of hiring a consultant from Washington DC? This crew at City Hall are out in Centre field.
I have worked for many outfits with older eq. but was well maintain an produce just as well. Mind you the cost to maintain was hi but it was the management that organized it was the reason for success. And a successful business is the business is the one that is well managed.
“The report was produced by Mercury Associates based in Washington, D.C”.? At what cost to the taxpayers? I would think at this stage someone would be smart enough to consider contracting out. Embarrassing is an under statement.
One of the city’s shop maintenance staffers should be asked to come up with a cost projection to keep the old equipment on the road over the next five or so years instead of scrapping it. As a tax payer, I’d like to see the numbers – is it cheaper to keep the old iron on the road, replace by purchase or replace by lease.
No doubt there should be a big improvement in snow removal in the 2014/2015 snow removal season. It won’t be a new snow removal plan that has the greatest effect but the winter games in 2015.
Remember Bill Gaal’s statement last winter that the residents of PG expect to much in regards to snow removal. Gaal seems to be the issue so maybe his removal is the next step to efficient snow removal.
They should be embarrassed. Its not rocket science.
Last year might not be a good yardstick. Don’t forget the City’s union was doing a work to rule campaign during some of the City’s worst snowfalls, and the streets never did recover.
And I agree that the downtown should no longer be a priority. Snow should be plowed where people actually drive.
Fancy suits, shiny shoes, and a pretty tie will not get the job done. Our City Managers are not in touch with reality, and need to be changed out along with the old equipment.
If you tried this type of management and maintenance with an airplane it would never be allowed off the ground.
The captainless ship has already sunk and they’re yelling “iceberg ahead!” LOL…
So wondrous City, what’s the action plan? Swim, salvage or rebuild? Hmmm…
All the new equipement isnt going to help much as long as the crew is union. They take days off and holidays right in the worst times . They strike in the worst times. They dont have the experience. Some do to be fair. I had a conversation with the city snow planner how to save money on a certain situation as I was a loader operator as my profession. He said nope because I was in the union. Very sad that a good idea couldnt even be considered.
Union hating JB rears up.. blaming the union.. lol.. pathetic
How many contractors plow our streets JB ?
How did the work to rule work out.. did the union get what it wanted.. oh yeah btw..what did they want..
Sure it didnt have anything to do with the mayor raising the amount of snowfall before clearing started ? Sure is wasnt that snow removal was underfunded again ? Of course not.. its all the unions fault.. the damn snow makers union made the snow fall as well I bet..lol
This year we will have the best road clearing ever to make it look good for the winter games.. after the games it will drop off horribly and we will hear about being over budget etc etc..
P Val: “Union hating JB rears up.. blaming the union.. lol.. pathetic ”
I notice you didn’t take issue with what I wrote, but chose to attack me instead. Typical.
JB.. I did ask you a few questions that I noticed you didnt answer. I didnt attack you.. I mentioned a fact.. you bash unions all the time.
Not a personal attack at all.. saying your an idiot for union bashing would be.. Nice try though… how about answering my questions now.
Despite your knee-jerk reaction, I never said it was all the union’s fault. There were a lot of factors that went into last year’s poor snow removal, not the least of which was a well timed work to rule campaign during heavy snowfalls in January or February of last year, in which some streets turned into a real mess and never recovered. I remember Brian Skakun taking pictures of the City’s snow clearing fleet sitting idle while the snow was coming down. Are you saying you don’t remember that?
Added to that, workers leaving streets unplowed for weeks at a time while plowing the same roads over and over. No question that’s poor management, and shows a lack of caring by the people running the plows.
Downtown not a priority? Don’t thousands of people work downtown, including those that provide many essential services for people in the city? I guess getting to Home Depot is more important that getting to your chemotherapy treatment?
All union bashers should be exempt from receiving products and services from union shops!
Skakum taking a picture means nothing to me.. anyone can take a picture to make anything or anyone look bad.. Maybe it was shift change.. maybe a safety meeting was going on.. maybe a meeting on strategy etc..
So JB you still didnt answer the union question.. what did they want with this “slowdown” and did they get it ?
I agree managing the needs of the city where not being met… that person should no longer have that job. Downtown is a definite priority, most traffic is there.. makes sense along with main roads, school bus routes..
A lot of us started to snowblow our own streets as the only way to get to the main roads.. I could see our mayor thinking with her thought process some how of charging us for doing it.
I agree Dragonmaster.. we have medical, retirement funds, vacation, good wages, safety, better working hours etc,all thanks to the unions. Lots find that easy to forget and focus on the few bad apples that are helped by their union. As it more and more human habit to focus in the negative and forget about the positive.
Dragonmaster, if us “union bashers” are going to be exempt from receiving products and services, will we then get a break on the taxes that we pay to support union shops and services??
By the way, have you ever noticed all of the union members shopping at Walmart? That’s one heck of a good way to support union shops eh?
My recollection is that the workers were not on a “work to rule”, but were NOT requested or permitted to work overtime. Correct me if I’m wrong, and show me the proof. If I am indeed wrong, I will accept that. Also, Brian Skakun took photos of idle equipment after all of us were told that “every single piece of equipment is on the road 24/7” and that every staff member was working full schedules. Blatant lies. The idle equipment was later discovered and at that time it was also discovered that some staff were on holidays (approved at that time of year by who???) It was confirmed that management did not call staff in for overtime, then later eluded to the labor dispute being the cause of that, when in fact it wasn’t! It was a lame attempt to make the staff look bad, but backfired. We were being lied to and no one wanted to accept responsibility for the gong show that was last winter’s snow removal.
one thing I believe to be true is all routes to the winter games venues will be pristine the rest of the town will be optional if done at all.
Makes sense, don’t plow where you don’t want the peoeple to go…. no sense letting the “TOURISTS” roam around, goodness knows what they might see???????
After that I feel it will be questionable if we get any streets plowed….
I hope I am wrong but somehow I don’t think so…..
JohnnyBelt: you are right about the poor management. I’ve been saying the same thing for years. Seems like no one has the gumption to give ‘you know who’ the boot. He says his staff are working on it but I wonder what he is doing?
We used to be the pride of the north. We would send staff to other parts of the country and the US to help them with snow removal problems. I guess we just forgot how to do it. I guess they have come back to help us. Sad really. Funny some of the people at city hall were there when this was happening and they are still there. I guess them must have left the department. Many of the people who ran the machines at the time are still in Prince George, retired now but I guess it was too hard to ask them for help.
There are some great people who work at the city but they don’t seem to be helping. What is up with that?
Northern Spirit is spot on. This is not so much an equipment issue as it is a complete failure at the management level… and no one accepts responsibility. Sure we are behind on equipment, but that does not explain the blatant incompetence of management at city hall in regards to snow removal.
I think Skakun pulled the curtain back for all to see last winter and illuminated our problem with snow removal far more than this report does, although they are basically complimentary. Anyone on a 5-digit salary could manage the situation better than the high priced help if put in that position IMO.
Most important thing they need to remember is this is not a 9-5 job and it is essential they have flexibility and adaptability built into their human resource process.
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