After a winter that brought repeated snowfalls, major storms and complaints about streets going months without being cleared, Prince Albert city council has ordered a review of how the City handles snow removal.
Council approved a motion Monday directing administration to report back with options for snow removal on Priority One routes and residential neighbourhoods, including the possibility of tendering out some work. The downtown core snow lift was also added to the review.
Coun. Daniel Brown initially proposed specifically examining contracted snow removal.
“I’m just asking for a report to find a better way, a more efficient way, and a quicker way to get the snow off our streets,” Brown said.
Brown said residents should not be left dealing with large snowbanks after residential streets are graded only once during the winter.
“If we can get it more done, more often, and we can get a better price on it, I’m all for saving the citizens some more of their tax dollars,” he said.
Coun. Bryce Laewetz said snow removal was one of the main complaints he received during the past winter. He said some areas were not touched until March and others were not reached at all.
Laewetz said the proposal was not intended to take jobs away from City employees. He said the existing crew has limited graders, trucks, skid steers and staff available when large amounts of snow arrive.
“How are 13 people supposed to cover an entire city that gets a one foot dump and then three days later another one foot dump?” Laewetz said.
Not everyone wanted the review centred on private contracting. Coun. Darren Solomon said administration should first be allowed to identify the most cost-effective options rather than have council prescribe tendering as the solution.
Coun. Dawn Kilmer called the previous winter “a disappointment,” but said the problem was not the work being done by City employees and pointed to communication with residents as another area needing improvement.
Coun. Tony Head also supported a broader review, saying council should look at issues including back alleys and the frequency of residential grading.
Brown later broadened the motion from specifically tendering out snow removal to reviewing snow-removal options, with contracting still included as a possibility.
The debate comes after a winter that put the City’s existing system under repeated pressure.
Council went into the 2025-26 winter with a policy allowing up to two rounds of residential grading and two downtown snow lifts. Acting Public Works Director Tim Earing told council last November that those changes maintained existing service levels rather than increasing them, and that additional service would have to be considered through the budget process.
By January, Public Works Director Jeff Da Silva told the Daily Herald that a series of smaller but frequent snowfalls was making it difficult for crews to finish lower-priority areas. Each new snowfall could send crews back to the beginning of the City’s priority list, starting with emergency routes before moving through transit routes, downtown and lower-priority streets.
Conditions became more difficult in February when Prince Albert received about 35 centimetres of snow over two days. Environment and Climate Change Canada’s 1991-2020 climate normals show Prince Albert usually receives 14.4 centimetres during the entire month of February.
The snow also affected emergency response. Parkland Ambulance adjusted its operations, including where ambulances were parked on residential streets, to reduce the risk of vehicles becoming stuck and delaying care. Additional four-wheel-drive vehicles were also used to support crews.
The difficult conditions continued into spring. An April 7-8 storm brought about 18 centimetres of snow to Prince Albert, compared with a normal April snowfall of 10.2 centimetres. The storm forced Prince Albert Transit to shut down while City crews concentrated on emergency and higher-priority routes. Earing said at the time that 13 staff were dedicated to snow removal and all available equipment was working.
Snow removal had also become an issue during April’s tax debate. Laewetz relayed complaints from residents who said a street and cul-de-sacs had gone the winter without being plowed. Mayor Bill Powalinsky noted at the time that the winter had included repeated snowfalls, rain and freeze-thaw conditions.
Those freeze-thaw conditions created another challenge for road crews. Da Silva told the Daily Herald in April that melting snow and ice was seeping into pavement cracks, freezing again and contributing to an unusually difficult pothole season while crews were still dealing with snow, ice and ruts.
Downtown businesses were also raising concerns months before Monday’s debate.
Fresh Air Experience owner Ron Horn told the Daily Herald in May that snow needed to be removed sooner so customers could properly use downtown parking.
“We need to have our snow removed at a timely manner so that you can get in and out of the parking spots as you should be able to,” Horn said.
Horn said the first downtown snow lift did not occur until Jan. 4. Snow that fell before Christmas had become packed into parking spaces, he said, leaving people climbing over snowbanks to reach parking meters and get in and out of vehicles.
Administration cautioned Monday that private contractors would not necessarily eliminate the difficulties caused by major storms.
Earing said contractors experience the same snowfalls as City crews and already have commitments to their own customers. The City maintains a list of equipment available for hire, but Earing said it was difficult to obtain additional graders and loaders during major snow events last winter because local contractors were already busy.
“We don’t have a local contract base that can necessarily support what we’re asking for,” Earing said.
City Manager Craig Guidinger said administration is already reviewing service levels ahead of budget deliberations, including what level of service residents expect and what the City can provide. Earing said that work includes comparing Prince Albert’s use of in-house and contracted resources with other cities.
Prince Albert’s 2026 snow management program has an estimated cost of $1.8 million. Residential properties are charged a $76 snow management special tax this year.
arjun.pillai@paherald.sk.ca
