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Letter: Rural snow clearing problematic

As a resident of Blind Bay, I have never seen such shoddy snow clearing as this year.
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-File photo

As a resident of Blind Bay, I have never seen such shoddy snow clearing as this year.

The CSRD advises that they do not hire the snow clearing and I don’t know who does. However, there should be an inherent duty on the employer to not only accept the best bid, but to ensure that the bidder is capable of performing the work hired for.

Case in point… our cul-de-sac has four homes and was recently plowed by a large yellow Highway truck. One of our senior residents woke to find a three-foot frozen snow wall, blocking their driveway. Had they experienced an emergency requiring First Responders, they would have been stymied.

Upset, they phoned the plow company (JPW), who suggested asking adjacent neighbors to help clear a passage with shovels….unacceptable! JPW never attended to view the problem, much less remedy the same; our keyhole remains a mess, even challenging garbage trucks.

Another resident from a different keyhole, stopped the same large truck, indicating that this plow was too big, and asked the whereabouts of their small white plow. He was informed that the ‘other’ driver was sick – implying no back up drivers, nor plows!

JPW machines are seen plowing with blades elevated four inches (I assume to preserve the blade’s longevity)? Accordingly, mushy ruts freeze, becoming icy, washboard trails. Take your family skating on Blind Bay Road….no sand there! So where does liability lie when treacherous roads result in a fatality?

Don’t blame the company hired, ( if they do their best with what they have), but who hired them without first confirming their ability to meet contractual obligations? Remember the old adage: You get what you pay for!

Put another way, maybe the ‘low’ bid is not necessarily the ‘right’ bid!

Ken Smith,

Blind Bay