Although the first blast of snow has already come and gone in southeast Saskatchewan, a number of communities including Estevan are preparing for the winter months.
City manager Jim Puffalt said Estevan will be continuing with the same snow removal policy it used to a reasonable level of success over the past couple of years.
He noted under that plan, the City will not send out its removal equipment until at least 20 centimetres of snow has fallen on the ground.
"Twenty centimetres is kind of the rule of thumb as to when we actually start plowing and moving snow out of the city," said Puffalt.
Estevan, and much of Saskatchewan, was hit with a late October snowstorm that shut down traffic in some areas of the province for one to two days. While Estevan received a significant amount of snow, it did not top the 20 centimetre threshold and the City's snow removal equipment did not hit the roads, a move that drew some criticism and an angry letter to the editor from a Carnduff resident who attends school in Estevan.
Although 20 centimetres is the benchmark the City uses, Puffalt said public works employees have the leeway to make decisions if trouble areas develop as was the case during the October storm
"That day, as you'll recall, the winds were very high and the Wellock Road area was starting to blow in and they had to do some work up there to keep things open," said Puffalt.
When the city is eventually hit by a major storm, Puffalt said snow removal crews will focus on the priority map that calls for them to begin with the main arteries and work from there.
"On the snow removal map there are priorities one, two and three. The ones, of course, are the main arterials so once people get out of the residential area they can get to a clean street. Then we work our way backwards."
