Kennedy turns frosty over Carbonear snow clearing review

By Chris Lewis | May 6, 2021

The Town of Carbonear is nailing down the specifics of a special meeting to discuss snow clearing.

Council originally agreed back on March 23 to appoint a special committee to review its snow clearing policies.

At last week’s meeting, councillor David Kennedy pointed out no such committee has been struck.

Kennedy said during the four weeks since the March 23 meeting, he has inquired several times about it to no avail.

Councillor Vic Jenkins, who chairs the public works committee, said the snow clearing routes were discussed at the last public works committee meeting. He said they saw no need for changes, adding it would be difficult to make changes anyway without altering the whole snow clearing system.

Kennedy countered the public works committee did not have the authority to identify when a meeting could be held when all seven members of the Town council had agreed to holding such a meeting.

“It’s incumbent on you, as Mayor, to call that meeting so I would like to know why it wasn’t called. All seven had agreed,” Kennedy said to Mayor Frank Butt. “I can point out specific instances where it never took four weeks to get a call for such a meeting.”

Butt replied that with regards to snow clearing, the Town is pretty much at the end of the season for that and has a whole summer to investigate the snow clearing procedures and see if any changes are necessary for next fall.

Kennedy said he would like to discuss more than just routes. He wants to see policies and procedures reviewed for potential changes.

Butt suggested the snowclearing issue could be discussed at an upcoming special meeting on ATV use in the town.

“I was just wondering if we’ve got to wait four weeks for that one as well,” Kennedy said. “That’s right, probably not, because it depends on who the request comes from… And that dictates the leadership that we have.”

Ultimately, Butt and Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Cynthia Davis agreed to set a meeting to discuss snow clearing policies, with Davis stating she would double check when other committee meetings are scheduled.