The mayors of Fernie and Sparwood are defending city and district public works staff over criticisms of snow removal following the Dec. 22 blizzard.

City of Fernie Mayor Ange Qualizza stated in a Jan. 6 Facebook (FB) post titled ‘Myth Buster – Windrow Removal’ that rumour-mongers need to stop and think before sharing unverified information.

“It has been suggested to me that there is a rumour on FB that the City of Fernie is going to discontinue the windrow removal program. This is 100% factually untrue and those kind of whispers can be dangerous,” Mayor Qualizza stated.

“I’ll ask – what does your online footprint say about you right now? Did you pile onto that post without verifying if it is true? Did you call City Hall, or my office for an explanation? Or did you pile on with – what a bunch of jerks? If so, then you are an actor,” she said, sharing a Jan. 5 letter from City of Merritt chief administrative officer (CAO) Sean Smith addressing his community following that same Dec. 22 dump of snow.

“We also understand that many of you feel extremely frustrated about the state of roads and sidewalks in Merritt and how long it is taking to restore conditions. Frustration is fine. Vilifying and bullying is not fine. Staff and council have been cursed at, flipped off and been the subject of dozens of comments, both in-person and online, that are downright cruel. On multiple occasions, equipment operators have been stopped in the streets only to be yelled at. Nobody deserves this kind of treatment. These actions demoralize and hurt people that are trying their best to serve their community,” Smith said.

“Hold us accountable for our response to one of the largest snowfalls that Merritt has seen in the past 40 years. Require us to put plans in place to ensure that the next time this happens, service is better. In doing that, be civil and kind.”

District of Sparwood Mayor David Wilks stated on social media Jan. 6 he stands in agreement with Mayor Qualizza and CAO Smith.

“Within the District of Sparwood on December 22 our public works people (10 people ) worked all day starting at 6 a.m. and continued to work non-stop until approximately 9 p.m. when they completed clearing every road in Sparwood. We had 2.5 feet of snow within a very short period of time. We had countless people calling public works complaining. Many more on social media complaining,” he said.

“Mayor and council are exceptionally proud of our Public Works Department who do their very best to ensure Sparwood is very well kept. Wherever you live in British Columbia we have some wild weather that hits us from time to time and every public works department do their very best to ensure their respective communities are passable as soon as possible.”

Qualizza concluded with a reminder to people of “the rules of social media participation. Verify. Verify. Verify. Because your online footprint should be important to you, and making sure Fernie stays a healthy and harmonious place to live and work should also be important to you.

“Turn on the news folks- the scene right now (storming of US Capitol Building by Trump supporters) is extremely troubling and hopefully is a reminder that we are all responsible for the culture in our community. Be a myth buster, we need you.”

Lead image: City of Fernie snow removal crew in action last winter. e-KNOW file photo

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