An Okotoks family was looking for answers Friday after a mountain disappeared out from under them.
Nevin Jones came home Feb. 5 to find a mountain of snow he had piled for his children to toboggan on appeared to have been removed by a front end loader.
In addition to the mountain missing from the lawn on Sheep River Link, two toboggans and a grinch tree atop the hill were gone and an LED light projector that had been in the base of the snow was damaged.
After making inquiries to Okotoks Municipal Enforcement (OME) and RCMP, who stated they had not received any formal complaint, Jones learned that the call had been referred to the Town of Okotoks’ snow removal teams.
Okotoks CAO Elaine Vincent said in a phone interview Saturday that rather than be referred to OME, matters of snow removal typically go to public works crews.
Infrastructure and Operations Director Chris Radford said in a statement that crews are working daily to remove snow piles from neighbourhoods in Town right of way, where sight lines may be obstructed.
Vincent added that the crews were unaware of the importance of Mount Crumpit.
“When you take a look at how many hundreds of times that's been done here, it's just regular operations,” Vincent said. “We don't know how precious that one is to some members of that neighborhood.”
While Radford said there can be some variance due to utility locations, typically the town has approximately three feet of right-of-way onto front lawns.
Vincent confirmed no notice is needed to access that space.
Jones, who measured the loader tracks into his property, alleged the machine went 16 feet into his property.
Radford said that while he couldn’t speculate why the loader operator had gone further into the lawn, it may come down to the operational aspects of the machine trying to pick up hardened ice or snow.
“From experience, part of the reason could be that when you're trying to remove a pile like that, especially with a loader, it's kind of like trying to pick up a pea with a tablespoon off the floor,” Radford said in a phone interview.
Radford went on to say that while snow piles are always a concern and removed as part of regular operations, his crews were unaware of the particular significance of this pile.
Jones said the hill was a rare source of excitement for his children with restrictions in place during the pandemic.
“This has been our last little bit of enjoyment that we had because of COVID,” Jones said, adding that he wanted somebody to come apologize to his daughter Paisley.
He continued Town has reached out to apologize and compensate him for any damages.
Both Radford and Vincent have confirmed the Town has reached out to the Jones family to make amends. Vincent said a formal letter will be sent to them Monday.
“We want to be a good neighbour,” Vincent said.
“Our staff take pride in the work that they do, and they never like to see these kinds of situations arise.
“Staff were up all night just trying to figure out what we could have done better. The abuse that we're taking right now because of that is pretty tough,” she continued.
She recognized the effect COVID has had on peoples’ well-being.
“The emotional reaction that people have through this during COVID, it just exemplifies the stress that people are under," she said.
“The transportation team would never perform an activity that would otherwise impact emotional well-being,” Radford said in his statement.
“Our staff all live in and around Okotoks area with families and are very dedicated to providing great service to the community.”
He added that he and his staff regretted any hurt or damage caused to the Jones family.
“The Town sincerely apologizes for any emotional pain this has caused the families in that area,” Radford’s statement read.
“If there are damages to the property during these operations, the transportation team will work with the impacted property owner directly to remedy the situation.”
Despite the anger expressed by commentators on local social media pages, Jones isn’t asking for hate.
“I’m not looking for someone to lose their job over this,” Jones said. “I just want there to be a lesson learned."
Vincent said that lesson has been learned; when Town staff receive a complaint of this nature, they will now first ask “Have you talked to your neighbour about this?”
