The sidewalk clearing bylaw in North Battleford remains intact, for now.
No changes are coming to the bylaw, and city administration reaffirmed the changes brought in to the way they would communicate bylaw provisions at the North Battleford municipal services meeting Jan. 16.
The issue of the bylaw arose again after a request from Councillor Brad Pattinson to review it over concerns about the way it was being administered. Businesses were hit with snow cleanup bills after the City cleared snow off their sidewalks.
Director of Public Works Stewart Schafer once again outlined the changes in communicating the bylaw that were brought in this fall, with plans to knock businesses' door to remind them of the bylaw provisions before they clear the snow. There are also discussions ongoing on what to do about empty properties, he noted.
Also discussed at the meeting was a bylaw provision requiring the sidewalks to be cleared within 48 hours, and how that provision should be communicated to the public.
The entire discussion seemed to mollify whatever concerns councillors had.
While he was pleased council was now "on the same page" with respect to the sidewalk clearing bylaw, for Mayor Ian Hamilton the discussion amounted to a big letdown as the City had expected a much more detailed review.
At the meeting, Hamilton said his recollection was that council "really wanted to delve into this and review" the bylaw.
That wasn't what they just did, he said.
"What we just did is reaffirmed what we said we were going to do six months ago," said Hamilton.
He expressed frustration City officials had to address a subject that could have been dealt with verbally and had already been dealt with at council months before, and took council to task for using up administration's time preparing reports on the issue.
