Successes and lessons learned – Woodlands County’s Infrastructure report wrap-up for 2025

By Serena Lapointe

At the end of January, Woodlands County Council received a status report from the final quarter
of 2025, detailing infrastructure-related projects, both completed and ongoing and concerns
raised with plans on how to mitigate them going forward. CAO Matthew Ferris stepped in as
acting Infrastructure Services Director for the meeting.
The report provided insight into several areas, including transportation, fleet management,
environmental services, water and wastewater, solid waste and airport operations, breaking
down items relating to service delivery, pressures from an operational standpoint, program
implementation and planning.
The report also featured a brand-new look from previous years. Ferris explained that recent
updates to the style of reports were now coming out for council and the public to see. “This is
our first rollout of a more formal-looking, public-facing document,” he said. He said they would
be adding graphics and more relatable data to the reports in the future.
The first topic in the report was the airport. Ferris spoke of a lesson learned from a successful
emergency exercise held in early December, saying that the lesson would help them improve
going forward. “Historically, we have been doing our emergency management tabletops and our
airport tabletops in isolation. For 2026, we are looking at a more integrated approach so that not
only do we cross-train, but our team here can better support the airport in the event of an
emergency, and also the airport can support us as well.” He added that administration is
reviewing the hours of operation at the airport as part of a level-of-service review and that policy
updates are underway as well.
Another lesson learned had to do with snow clearing, specifically with residential driveways that
are signed up under the Snow Flag Program. Under the program, residents can have County
equipment clear their driveways by signing up and purchasing a flag ($60/300m as of 2025).
However, Ferris said some residents seem to want more of a service than what the program
was intended to provide.
He said that perceived abuse of the system has highlighted the need for conversations,

especially if crews are dealing with a resident who is chronically misusing the program. When
can they simply say no? “We do believe there needs to be a discussion with council on the
Snow Flag Program, for expectations, and service level. Some people are, in our opinion,
abusing the system. A good example we have is that someone called us saying that we missed
their driveway and asked us to come back. Well, we already did it. They just wanted more
detail,” explained Ferris.
He said there are also other things to consider, including the types of driveways. “Is it just a
100m or 200m straight segment, or are we doing detailed work? We have individuals who will
actively remove their snow flag signs so that our workers are there when they are, so they can
get more details done, and those abuses impact everyone.”

He said that with the available resources working to clear out properties, having crews provide
higher levels of service at the request of homeowners isn’t feasible. Ferris noted that the issue
was flagged organizationally and that discussions will happen to ensure efficiency ahead of next
winter.
From a snow clearing perspective overall, Ferris said high winds, significant snow drifts and
sustained snowfall didn’t rattle the crews. Despite the severe conditions, with some snow drifts
reaching eleven feet high, public feedback was minimal, and concerns raised were dealt with as
quickly as possible.
Ferris added that they have prioritized the monitoring of winter service performance, including
response times when requested, utilization of equipment and the pressures felt operationally
during peak weather events, such as the snowfall reported in late December. They are also
continuing to embed work order usage across the Infrastructure Department.
One of the last pieces that Ferris pointed to as a deficiency to be rectified is Woodlands
County’s Traffic Bylaw. “It is quite poor, currently. We’ve spent the last six months trying to
finalize a new version, particularly around road ban clarifications, and where we require road
use permits, that sort of thing. It was a deficiency that we were seeing, so we are trying to
strengthen that but also clarify some issues that we anticipate might happen.”
Residents can read the full report by visiting www.woodlands.ab.ca, clicking on Council

Meetings and opening the CivicWeb Portal. The report was part of the January 29 Council
meeting.