It's mild outside and you hear the plow rumble by your house.
That seems strange, but it's really not, says Dave Friary, the city's director of roads, parks and fleet.
The question came up at Monday night's general committee meeting at Barrie City Hall when Coun. Doug Shipley asked why plows would be out on a night when it hadn't snowed.
"We do get a number of inquiries," Friary said. "With regard to why we were out (Sunday) night, there was a couple of reasons that we do that. As the temperatures warmed up, we send them out and try to push back the snowbanks to uncover the storm drains to prevent flooding."
The city also wants to eliminate "ponding" on the road, he said.
Additionally, as the snow softens in warm weather, Friary said "the last thing" the city wants is for the soft snow to freeze, which causes ruts and grooves in the road.
"So we try to push as much off the roadway as we can," he said.
The sidewalk plow operators have also been out for inspections.
"A sidewalk may be 20 kilometres long, and that sidewalk machine may only be putting product down on, say, a kilometre of that entire route," said Friary, adding it's also to provide safety to residents and limit liability against the city.
