MOOSE JAW — City hall is updating its street sweeping program and plans to connect the work to waste collection zones so residents know when the municipality may sweep their streets.
Furthermore, the service levels formalize more clearly the city’s communications, regular processes, scheduling and timelines and provide clarity when the municipality sweeps the 60 kilometres of commercial and 180 kilometres of residential streets.
City hall usually completes the annual street sweeping program by late June or early July, although it has not yet confirmed or published any service levels for this year, an April 7 city council report said. In comparison, in 2024, the municipality completed sweeping by July 9.
Administration reviewed past street sweeping practices and found that staff tracked the work internally using spreadsheets, but did not provide any formal prioritization, said the report. However, it has been understood internally that downtown corridors and arterial roads receive attention first, with the work spreading to other roads.
City crews clean commercial, high-traffic and downtown locations overnight and clean residential locations — divided into the nine waste collection zones — during the day.
City hall schedules the cleaning of commercial zones early in the season — ahead of residential zones — and usually starts around April 15, weather permitting, the updated street sweeping report says. Commercial sweeping occurs overnight since vehicles are less likely to require on-street parking.
Once residential sweeping commences, outstanding commercial zones will be addressed when front-street waste/recycle collection occurs.
Meanwhile, residential street sweeping starts around May 1, weather permitting, and is scheduled in blocks based on the waste collection zones, the updated document says. To learn when sweeping will occur, homeowners should watch for message boards in their neighbourhoods and updates on the city’s social media channels or website.
Residential sweeping occurs during the day when vehicles are least likely to require on-street parking.
The updated program helps city hall focus on this operational task and connects the cleaning to waste collection zones for specific and local accommodations, the council report said.
“This same focus then applies to communications, where administration can now ask residents to accommodate ‘no parking’ needs to (local) and specific zones,” the report stated.
City administration plans to review the cleaning timelines and service delivery efforts at the end of the 2025 construction season, while it will also determine whether there was any increased performance with connecting street sweeping services to waste collection zones. It will then explore whether further services — such as expanded fall sweeping to support stormwater infrastructure — are required.
Also this year, physical “no parking” signs and pylons will replace paper signs and go up 24 hours before sweeping occurs, while in the future, administration will explore whether it should increase towing services, the report added.
The report added that the street sweeping program cost city hall $413,024.72 last year, while that cost is expected to be $412,087.16 this year.
Council unanimously approved the updated street sweeping document during its April 7 meeting.
Coun. Heather Eby said this activity not only makes the community look better but keeps the storm sewer system free of debris. Meanwhile, she pointed out that sweeping machines will not return to a street to clean it if vehicles are still parked there. Therefore, residents should watch for signs so they know when to move their vehicles.
Connecting the waste collection zones to the street sweeping program is “simplistic and genius” since residents don’t have to wonder where the machines are and can look online, said Coun. Jamey Logan.
Coun. Patrick Boyle said this change essentially introduces the key performance indicators (KPIs) that council has wanted, while articulating those performance measures lets council hold itself accountable and ensures residents can do the same.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, April 28.
