After receiving multiple complaints from residents regarding their sidewalk snow-clearing bylaw, the City Manager for Regina said they had waived one complaint.
The City waived a $424 charge given to a Regina resident after he couldn’t physically shovel the sidewalks due to multiple health impairments.
City Manager Nikki Anderson said the media made her aware of the case.
“There was one example that showed up on my desk where bylaw officials followed the rules, which is to ticket sidewalks,” she said. “However, in this particular instance, it made absolutely no sense.”
According to Anderson, the residents did everything right, including calling the snow angels to clear his sidewalks, which wasn’t good enough for the City as they later came and cleared it themselves, resulting in the over $400 charge.
“Our policies are not an excuse to get into the way of logic and empathy,” she said. “In general, do we want people to be shovelling their sidewalks? Of course, we do, but when our employees are faced with a situation that doesn’t seem to make any sense, and it doesn’t show empathy, that’s problematic.”
Despite bylaw officers following the rules, Anderson said she had given bylaw officials and administration new instructions.
“With almost any rule, you are going to have situations that are varied and different. I think if, instead, we can work toward an environment where we are trying to lead with a resident-first focus.”
“The instruction I gave internally was if staff have a question if something doesn’t seem to make sense, elevate it up through the leadership team and question it.”
The snow clearing bylaw came into effect in 2022 and mandated that all property owners in the City clear their walks and nearby sidewalks within 48 hours of a snowfall.
