Moncton City Council approved the purchase of two new sidewalk snow plowing machines to be ready for next winter.
Councillor Paul Pellerin says more machines are critical especially with the opening of the new downtown centre.
“If everybody is in focus, and they want to make this succeed, especially the first year, you do not want people walking on icy roads for 5, 10, 15 minutes,” says Pellerin. “You want them off the road, you want them on the sidewalks, and to do that, we need more machines.”
Councillor Bryan Butler argued in favour of the purchase because of the continued growth in the city.
“We have grown, and we are growing, and we’re growing in the North End,” says Butler. “We got community centres coming up, we got senior citizens centres coming up, we have schools, we have new apartment complexes, we’re gonna need this.”
Mayor Dawn Arnold argued against making the decision last night, saying the order had to be in by July.
She adds the upfront cost for the two machines is $351,000, but that’s not the only consideration.
“Maintenance of $94,000, Staffing of $147,800, that’s a total of $593,240 that I personally think we need to do our due diligence and look into other possibilities,” says Arnold.