Orillia is purchasing more snow-removal equipment and freeing up more cash in order to tackle massive snowbanks in the wake of this winter's record-breaking snowfall.
"I'm getting a lot of complaints," Coun. Ralph Cipolla said at a special virtual meeting of council called Thursday to approve funding for more snow-removal equipment.
Cipolla said business in the downtown core is down 40 per cent over the past four days due to snowbanks and other snow-related issues on Mississaga Street.
Coun. Jay Fallis said snowbanks in Ward 3 are up to 12 feet tall.
"The responses I've received are generally negative due to the lack of snow storage," he said.
In his report to council, Roger Young, the city's general manager of environment and infrastructure services, says complaints, during a winter like this, are not unexpected.
"During seasons with high to extreme snowfall accumulation, the city receives a high volume of complaints related to snowbank height and visibility when accessing roads, resulting in requests for snowbank removal at intersections and in our residential areas," he wrote.
Council voted to use reserve funds to purchase a loader-mounted blower at a cost of $350,000 and four sidewalk snow blowers that will cost $66,000.
The city has two tractor and blower units, but only one is currently in operation. The city has eight sidewalk-clearing machines, five of which have blower attachments, some of which are breaking down due to heavy use and age, council was told.
The new loader-mounted blower will be larger and "more robust" than what the city currently has, said Young.
"It's a very, very efficient model. It can fill one truck with 20 cubic metres (of snow) every 30 seconds," he told council at the meeting.
"It will have a significant, immediate impact on our snowbank-removal capacity to address key areas, including intersections, school drop-off/pickup zones and select residential streets. The loader-mounted blower can be sourced within five to 10 days through non-standard procurement and be in active use immediately," he wrote in his report.
The sidewalk blowers are replacing the city's aging fleet.
The new equipment is estimated to increase operational efficiency by 80 per cent, Young wrote in his report.
The exact cost of winter snow removal for this season is not yet known, but it will be significantly more than last year as city staff are working a lot of overtime. On top of that, more salt, gasoline and equipment need to be purchased while Orillia is also being forced to contract out more trucks for snow removal.
"We are engaging as many contractors as possible. The challenge is that everyone is very, very busy," said Young.
The 2025 department budget is $1.947 million. There is also a winter stabilization reserve of more than $562,000. Funds left over from last winter's snow-control budget will be transferred to the reserve fund for this year, council decided.
To ensure ongoing service, staff have identified $530,000 in potential additional support, if required, to sustain operations for the remainder of the season, notes a news release. This funding would cover $255,000 for contracted snow-removal services, $215,000 for vehicle and equipment repairs and additional road salt, and $60,000 for increased fuel costs due to higher-than-average snow-clearing efforts.
Mayor Don McIsaac thanked the staff for their hard work this season.
"With 15 feet of snow, it's just been unbelievable ... the amount of snow we've had. The successive snow is what has killed us," he said.
Staff will also prepare a report for council committee on winter-control performance at the end of the winter.