The mayor of Warwick Township has addressed community criticism over snow removal, after the first storm of the season buried his community in the white stuff earlier this month.
Over 30 centimetres of snow fell in north and east Lambton on November 10.
A section of Highway 402 in the area of Nauvoo Road was closed, Warwick Township reported a delay in plowing operations after one of its plows ended up in a ditch, and school buses were cancelled the next day.
Mayor Todd Case discussed the weather event at this week's council meeting, and applauded staff for their work.
"We had about 14 inches [35 cm] of snow really, really quick," Case said. "Bad weather, lots of motor vehicle accidents in the community, jackknifed trucks, the whole nine yards. Our public works team was ready to go. They have a team of five individuals. I want to make it clear that's how many people were available. Our part time staff, or our seasonal staff, wasn't supposed to start until a week later and they did a sensational job of dealing with the weather."
"The policy in our community always has been [that] roads come first," Case added. "They're our number one priority. We're mandated to look after the roads and we have 220 kilometres of road in the Township of Warwick."
But, Case said some people in the community were upset when snow wasn't removed from sidewalks by the next morning.
"It comes down to a matter of timing and regulation." he said. "The guys can work 13 hours and then they have to take time off and rest. That's mandated by the province. Sidewalks have always gotten done once the roads are done."
He said comments were also made about a "lack of quality [when] clearing the sidewalks."
"I'll be very honest with you, I'm not the kind of guy that wants to engage on social media and get into it with people, but some of those claims were false," Case said. "Doing a little investigation, we found that some of those issues were contractor issues. Some of these buildings and companies, they farm that service out to get it done."
Mayor Case said he just wanted to affirm that the municipality takes its responsibilities seriously.
"I want to assure the residents that when it comes to sidewalks, we will get to them, as we always do," he said. "But, we'll get to them once the roads are cleared."
Under the current bylaw, sidewalks must be cleared within two hours, which Case said the municipality realizes is tough to do.
Council asked staff to review the bylaw and return to the regular meeting on December 15, with recommended changes for their consideration.
