VIDEO: Kelowna snow removal crews having a flawless year
In the chaos of a snowstorm, there is almost no way to keep everyone happy.
But this winter, crews had a revamped strategy designed to deliver the best service ever.
The problem is, that it hasn't been put to the test.
At least not so far.
Public Works Manager Geert Bos is fine with that.
"We didn't get an opportunity in a big event," he said. "But from a training perspective, and getting people ready, having some of the lighter events like we saw in late December is actually a good training opportunity."
Bos is never one to get overly stressed, but he did look particularly relaxed when we caught up to him in City Park on a bright 3°C afternoon.
"Not an inch of snow anywhere we're looking," said Bos. "So it's been a different winter this time."
He said it doesn't mean employees are sitting on their hands.
Instead, the favourable weather is a chance to get to items from the "to-do list."
"We keep going with the shouldering projects, we still are pouring sidewalks, we still do concrete work," Bos said. "So there's lots of work to go around."
At this time last year, snow was piling up in Kelowna, and so were the complaints.
Crews were removing thousands of cubic metres of snow out of the downtown core.
But it's far too early to get complacent.
"You can see in the forecast temperatures are coming down," notes Bos. "There is some moisture around next week, so who knows?"
One big change from previous years is shifting the job of sidewalk snow clearance to the parks department, so city works crews can concentrate on removing snow from our streets.
And it might still be faced with a major snowfall event.
"For us, the official end of winter is kind of like March 15, so we still have a good eight, nine, ten weeks to go."
And so far, no snowstorms mean a tidy inbox for Geert Bos.
"To date, we've had exactly zero complaints regarding snow."
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