Snow Budget Blow-out, NCLGA Advocacy Push, Library & Museum Growth
Welcome to the first edition of North Peace Nuggets - your unfiltered scoop of small stories that still pack a punch, from local governments throughout the North Peace. Here you’ll find quick hits from FSJ City Council, Taylor Council, School District 60 and PRRD board meetings - nuggets of information about what matters to residents.
Today’s collection of nuggets comes from the February 9 FSJ City Council meetings.
Mother Nature’s One-Two Punch: Snow Clearing Budget Takes a Beating:
Mother Nature kicked the City’s snow clearing budget in the teeth, Council heard from the Roads Manager on February 9.
December’s prolific snowstorms resulted in 103.9cm of the white stuff being dumped on the city, decimating both the budget and Public Works’ supply of sand. Ninety percent of the winter sand supply intended for Q4 2025 and Q1/2 2026 has been used, the contractors to help keep up with the snowfall cost the City nearly half a million dollars, with $100,000 being spent on city parking lots alone.
Normally, the City engages one dozer, two graders, 6 to 8 loaders, and six trucks and trailers for about 10 days. During December, that amount nearly tripled, when the City used three dozers, five graders, 10 loaders, and six trucks and trailers for almost a month straight.
Roads Manager Gary Meir told Council that 41 inches of snow fell in December, which worked out to an average of 1.5 inches of snow per day, “if Mother Nature liked to do everything in perfect measurements.”
Because there were virtually no breaks between snowfalls, city crews and contractors had little time to pause and regroup, which threw the snow clearing schedule out the window.
Until December, the new schedule of Category 1 to 5 streets and the assigned days for different parts of town had been working, Meir said. But if the city gets 5cm of snow while they’re clearing another category of streets, they have to go back to Category 1 and start all over again.
Deputy Chief Administration Officer Darrell Blades added that although they’d changed the hours of operations to 21 hours, 7 days a week, they ended up working 24/7 to clear the streets.
Councillors were united in their praise of the efforts of city crews and local contractors throughout December but suggested that a debrief and a look at where they can reduce costs would be a good idea.
Meir agreed: “Absolutely, we’ve already found and exposed some things that can be improved.”
Among those, a bigger snowblower would be helpful.
“Our methodology is very expensive and time consuming,” Blades said. “Fort St. John probably has the highest level of service in terms of snow removal.”
As it stands, Blades noted that it’s possible to clear the entire city in three days, but that would mean plowing in people’s driveways.
No word on how much the late January thaw is costing the City as it works to unblock frozen storm drains to prevent flooding . . . and according to the groundhogs, we’ve got another six weeks of winter to go!
Amplifying the North: FSJ Leads Advocacy Push at NCLGA:
When it comes to advocating for resources in the North, Fort St. John has the strongest voice in the province, a voice Council hopes to use to good purpose at the upcoming North Central Local Government Association’s AGM.
With NCLGA now limiting the number of resolutions communities can bring forward to three, Council had to choose from a lot of issues important to city residents and choose the ones where they could do the most good.
Kicking off the discussion was Councillor Tony Zabinsky, who said that he thinks council should stay focussed on the resource sector.
Provincial consultation with communities prior to making sweeping decisions, like decriminalization is something Councillor Trevor Bolin would like to see the city advocate for. He says they’ve asked for it before but haven’t seen any changes in how government operates.
“I really think the resource sector is where we are the strongest voice within the province. The west coast is getting stronger with that, but we are still the strongest voice to meet with government and advocate for what we have and what we need, and what the province itself needs,” said Councillor Byron Stewart.
Council needs to continue to bring a strong voice and be a strong advocate of what the community needs when they meet with government, Council agreed.
Resources, council members determined is not just oil and gas but includes forestry and agriculture as well.
The draft resolutions Fort St. John will be bringing forward to NCLGA are for the support and enhancement of our industries and resources; and intergovernmental relations and communication with local governments.
Investing in Memory & Learning: Historical Society, Library Level Up:
Council’s investment in knowledge paid dividends in 2025: the North Peace Historical Society and Fort St. John Public Library each used their funding to supercharge programming and collections, delivering more history, stories, and resources to residents than ever before.
The NP Historical Society, which runs the Fort St. John-North Peace Museum reported a record number of events at the museum, 61 events which reached over 4,750 people in Fort St. John and the surrounding area. Museum Curator Heather Sjoblom was justifiably proud of this accomplishment, following as it did in 2024’s record outreach.
The museum’s achievements didn’t stop there – all the copies of the Alaska Highway News, from 1944 to 2023, have been scanned and indexed, the Northeast News is almost complete, and volunteers are working on The Northerner and the North Peace Express.
Photographs and negatives have also been scanned and catalogued – all this while adding 73 new educational programs and guided tours in 2025, responding to 118 inquiries and helping the City identify Freedom of the City recipients.
Similar program expansion occurred at the Library in 2025, largely thanks to the efforts of Talia Wiens, Library Director Matthew Rankin told Council. Because of Wiens’ influence, the language programs have been greatly expanded, and now Storytimes include Filipino Story Time, French Story Time, German Story Time and ASL Story Time, with plans to add Malayalam Story Time.
The library is also working on expanding its collections, even looking to add a Seed Library, with the help of the Charlie Lake Community Garden, the North Peace Horticultural Society, the Taylor Public Library and Westcoast Seeds.
Rankin, who is leaving Fort St. John on February 21 to take up a new position as Library Director in Terrace, came under fire during the presentation from Councillor Trevor Bolin, who said that spending 81 percent of revenues on labour is no way to run a business.
“Most businesses shoot for a maximum of 30% labour, even municipalities shoot for around 45% labour. At 81% of your total revenue going to labour, there’s nothing left. It’s not sustainable,” Bolin said, adding that if he opened a library and ran that library at 30 percent labour costs, Rankin’s library would close.
Rankin pointed out that libraries are labour-intensive, everything a library does, from the programming to processing materials – loans, returns, shelving books – requires labour.
“The industry average is between 60 and 70, and that’s for a normal operating library.”
Bolin insisted that was still too much.
Councillor Sarah MacDougall said she felt it was important to talk about how libraries can get funds, other than from the City, the Regional District, the Province and so on.
“Talk to me about fee for service, can the library charge for any of the programs it puts on,” MacDougall asked.
“No,” Rankin replied. “Under the Library Act, everything has to be free, because the purpose of the library is to be equal to everything.”
The only things the library can charge for are “courtesy services” like photocopying, 3-D printing. “But for lending, access to the internet, Wi-Fi, and programs, it has to be free.”
“That’s not a business model for us; it’s a legal requirement.”