Setting their sights on improved sidewalk snow clearing efforts, the operations committee of city council greenlit two staff proposals during Monday’s meeting.
These changes included adding a net 2.4 kilometres of sidewalks to the city’s winter snow-clearing efforts and adding another season to the city’s continuous sidewalk plowing pilot program.
City council as a whole will need to ratify the committee’s decisions during their next meeting on Sept. 23, but Monday’s unanimous support points to a likelihood this will happen.
The vote on a one-season extension to the continuous sidewalk plowing pilot program was needed soon for coverage to continue, as snow is likely to begin falling before city council members finalize the 2026/27 budget in December. During these upcoming deliberations, the city’s elected officials will vote on whether to make the pilot program permanent.
The pilot program’s one-season extension comes at a cost of $289,000.
“This is a good news story,” Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann said during Monday’s meeting of the pilot program’s one-year extension.
“The calls I've been getting have been very supportive,” she said. “They feel that their concerns have been met and have been addressed with this particular program.”
Although also supportive of the extension, Ward 5 Coun. Mike Parent expressed concern regarding the city’s ability to maintain it, given that past seasons’ staff absenteeism left gaps in service.
Absenteeism is “one of our biggest challenges in winter operations,” city Linear Infrastructure Services director Joe Rocca said. “It is work we continue to strive to recruit more staff into the workforce.”
In the past, casual and part-time staff were used to fill gaps, but challenges in filling full-time roles has resulted in the city dipping into their casual pool of staff for promotions, thereby draining the casual workforce.
“Recruitment is ongoing for casuals,” Rocca said. “If you know anyone, send them our way by all means. It’s an area we’re very aware we have gaps at times, and we are striving very hard to try and fill that gap to recruit more people into the workforce.”
Rocca said that a contractor they hire to clear sidewalks has also procured sidewalk plows, which they’ve leveraged to help fill some of the gaps in service.
The continuous sidewalk plow pilot program has been in place for two winter seasons, and includes the addition of three seasonal employees to supplement the existing 21 who undertake annual sidewalk winter maintenance efforts.
Similar to downtown sidewalk maintenance service, these three additional employees maintain sidewalks within their respective sections on a rotational basis during business days and not just immediately following snow events.
Among those advocating for the program’s continuation has been Greater Sudbury Safer Sidewalks, a group of accessibility advocates whose founder, Maria Bozzo, commended the program as making a noticeable difference to city streets.
In a survey, a report by the organization noted that residents “frequently made a point of commenting on the improved service level. Sidewalk conditions were significantly better on days the sidewalk plow had passed: demonstrating the benefit of the additional pass in the pilot project.”
That said, the advocates also noted that additional improvements are still needed to ensure sidewalks are clear of obstacles for pedestrians, including the application of more sand and the more-consistent removal of snow.
Another recent change to the city’s snow-clearing efforts has been this year’s addition of an interactive map on the city’s website which shows where both road and sidewalk plows have been. The map is available by clicking here, and a drop-down menu at the top left of the screen allows users to switch between roads and sidewalks.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.