A Coquitlam civic worker got slammed on Facebook recently for clearing snow from property owned by the mayor.
It turns out, though, it wasn't a civic employee from the public works department using a snow blower to clear the sidewalks for Mayor Richard Stewart.
In fact, it was the mayor himself who hauled out the equipment to help remove the white stuff during one of the heaviest days of winter snow over the recent holidays.
Mayor Richard Stewart, who is not immune to posting cheeky comments, said on Facebook that he wanted to get ahead of the controversy by explaining what really happened on Dec. 28.
"To clear up any confusion, I had just returned home from reviewing some city-related issues, and was still wearing my city-issued EPW (Engineering and Public Works) hi-vis coat. I pulled our snowblower out of the garage (it’s not city equipment) and started out to clear some sidewalks, including the sidewalk in front of our local park, and sidewalks in front of our house and those of our neighbours, as we all tend to chip in. We have a couple of neighbours in their 80s, so I did their driveways, as well," Stewart explained.
"To be clear, while the person operating the snowblower in this video does indeed get paid by the city, he wasn’t using city equipment, and was not being paid at the time."
Mayor Richard Stewart wasn't the only Snow Angel helping out neighbours during the snowfall.
On the Port Coquitlam Community Facebook group someone thanked a neighbour for plowing all the sidewalks in the area.
Meanwhile, the snow might not be over for the season and you can still sign up to be a Snow Angel for elderly residents in the City of Coquitlam.
According to Environment Canada, cool temperatures may result in snow mixed with rain tonight, Tuesday, and Wednesday night (Jan. 3-5).
