Mobilizing efforts to remove snow throughout the winter without presenting too great a cost to the taxpayer is no easy task, said the town's operations manager.
"Some people want bare roads, and that's not feasible in Sundre," said Jim Hall.
"We do the best we can" with the resources available, he said.
The Town of Sundre for now has only one dedicated roads operator and a budget to hire contractors.
"We don't have the manpower" to keep all the streets clear, Hall told the Round Up last week.
However, the municipality does own its own equipment ó a grader, a backhoe with a large loader bucket to scoop large piles of snow, a skidsteer, a snowplow and a sander ó which contractors put to good use, he added.
Town staff have done some mapping to plot out priority areas for the year, which will be posted on the town's website, www.sundre.com, in January, he said.
"That will give clearer direction so people know what we're doing."
Emergency routes are always among the top priorities. So are main intersections, the schools and the hospital. Also given plenty of attention are frequently travelled curvatures ó or bends in the road ó and hills, he said.
"If they get snow on them they're really treacherous."
Additionally, the municipality makes sure to sand seven days a week as needed along Centre Street, main intersections as well as pedestrian crosswalks. Town-owned facilities, including the arena, are done as needed by contractor, he said.
The town's roads operator worked Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to ensure emergency routes were open, he said.
"That was a lot of work on his part ó he worked 10-hour days for two days to keep up with the snowfall."
Soon alleviating that burden to an extent will be a second employee dedicated to roads, a position that council recently approved for 2017.
"That should really help us," said Hall.
In past, staff from other departments were pulled to help with clearing roads, but that practice was stopped simply because it was neither cost-effective nor sustainable, he said.
"When you start pulling people away from their (primary) positions, they get behind" in their regular workload, he said, adding the result is a growing overtime cost borne by the taxpayers.
So every effort is made to avoid using unbudgeted overtime hours to save them for when they are most needed, such as for example over the holidays when people want to get around, he said.
The municipality does not forget about residential streets, but those are pushed off as late as possible because of the cost burden. Even so, residents with concerns are welcome to contact the Town of Sundre's front desk, which can be reached at 403-638-3551.
"We go out and assess it," said Hall.
Meanwhile, he encourages everyone to "drive patiently. We can't work miracles."
