Evan Parliament, Revelstoke's chief administrative officer, attributes the timing of the Christmas holidays as the reason the streets weren't cleared for up to four days after a heavy snowfall between Dec. 23 and 25.

Parliament committed to doing an internal review to figure out how the situation could have been handled better, and he released the results on Friday, Jan. 13 with four recommendations.

There were three back-to-back statutory holidays at the end of December, and the collective agreement between CUPE Local 363, the union that represents Revelstoke city workers, and the city of Revelstoke, allows staff to celebrate statutory holidays, Parliament said in an interview.

One of his recommendations is to change the collective agreement to define people who clear snow as essential.

The collective agreement expires on Dec. 31, 2023 and has to be re-negotiated.

In an email CUPE Local 363 president Joel Martin said that "we are committed to to working with the City to deliver quality public services for residents."

Some people who clear snow are city staff, represented by the union. Others are contracted by the city, and not represented. This map shows where contractors clear, and where staff clear.

Map showing where city crews clear, and where contractors clear. Courtesy of Evan Parliament.

The city's snow removal policy is from April, 2000. Parliament recommends updating that. He also committed the city will communicate to the public next time service levels will be reduced. Finally Parliament recommended that when senior staff are out of the office, they will designate someone to take their place.

There is a protocol to do that now, but Parliament said with so many retirements, resignations and revolving positions at the city, that didn't happen in December and it left some operators and front line workers asking who was in charge.

Click below for a full interview with Evan Parliament.