City Crews Keeping Up With Snow Removal

City crews will be plugging away at removing some of the snow piling up around the city.

Urban Services Manager Kevin Carson tells CHSJ News the night shift completed significant snow push back and the day and night shift are confident most of the trouble spots will be cleared up today.
Municipal Operations managers in charge of snow removal tour the South-Central Peninsula regularly to determine if a full snow removal operation is required.

For more information on the Winter Management Plan and the Snow Ban system, visit saintjohn.ca/winter or call 658-4455.  To learn if there is a Snow Ban in effect, call 658-4040.

Premier Gets Support In His Call For Reforming Local Government

While saying he won't force amalgamations, the Premier is making noises about reforming how local governments work.

If not outright mergers, that leaves more regionalisation of government services which is something Mayor Ivan Court has been advocating for sometime claiming the current system of funding cities is broken.

Court says he could see regionalisation taking place with police, fire and municipal operations.

Common Councillor Patty Higgins offers a bleak assessment of the city's financial position saying it's on the edge of a rope.

Milestone Reached By Red Cross With Helping Flood Victims

The Canadian Red Cross has passed the halfway mark giving out emergency relief following the December flooding in the southwestern and central part of the province with 645 thousand dollars donated.

 More than 200 thousand dollars of help in the form or gift cards and vouchers has been distributed to 143 households in just the last two weeks.

Dan Bedell of the Red Cross tells CHSJ News fuel cards were donated by Irving Oil because paying for gas is a big deal. The Red Cross is also helping out with their power bills and replacing small appliances. Bedell says the power bills can be astronomical when you have industrial pumps, dehumidifiers and heaters running 24/7 for days on end.

Two-thirds of the aid thus far has gone to 91 households in Charlotte County with a third given out to 52 householders along a 150 kilometer stretch from Woodstock to Gagetown.

Another Winter Storm Cleanup Is Underway

A miserable day of driving and walking in the third major winter storm in less than three weeks with 15 centimeters on the ground by early last night when it was all said and done. The Saint John area has received 10 centimeters more snow this winter than normal so far. There will be many parts of the city this morning where people will be walking on the roads.

Police had to assist as a number of vehicles were off the road or stuck on Garden Street and on Foster Thurston Drive.

The weather resulting in countless delays and cancellations and even impacting the "Q" League schedule.
The Sea Dogs game set for last night in Moncton had to be postponed until tonight.

Saint John Transit kept their buses on the roads but they did run a little behind schedule in the weather.
Elsewhere in the province, In the village of Notre-Dame, the snow was too much for the community centre's huge roof which gave way but no one was inside the building at the time. City buses were pulled off the roads in Moncton and Acadian Lines suspended some of its inter-city bus travel.

Several vehicles, including transport trucks, were off the road along the Trans-Canada Highway

You Will Be Paying More For Milk Soon

The price of milk will be rising by 5 cents a litre as of February 1st. That translates into a 2.7 per cent increase.

Robert Goggin who's the general manager of the New Brunswick Farm Products Commission, tells CHSJ News how much you will be paying at the store depends where you do your shopping because the retail prices will vary.

Goggin, who points out there was no price increase last year, blames the increase on inflation which has been driven primarily by a rise in fuel prices over the past year.
Prices under the School Milk Programme will not go up thanks to a 1.3 million dollar subsidy paid for by processors and producers. There have been complaints about milk prices being higher in New Brunswick than they are in other provinces.