The city did not stick to the neighbourhood blading schedule for the first big snowfall of the year, leaving many Edmontonians frustrated and angry.

Patrick Moore said he and his housemates moved their cars in anticipation of Thursday's scheduled snow clearing in McKernan. For some of them, that meant driving their cars to work and paying to park downtown for the day.

But when they returned home the snow was still there, and there was no update on the city’s website.

“It just seems a little bit unfair,” Moore said.

“The information provided is not only not useful, it’s untrue when they don’t follow it and people make plans around that.”

Coun. Mike Nickel was one of several councillors received complaints from people in the same situation as Moore.

He said the city needs to meet the schedule, or at least communicate with people when the schedule changes.

“If you don’t do snow removal well, you’re not doing your job,” Nickel said. “That’s like saying you’re not doing policing well, not doing fire well. These are fundamental services.”

Nickel said he doesn’t think more funding is needed to fix the problem, just better management.

“It’s not throwing more money at it, it’s actually doing the job that they’re supposed to be doing. And that’s what frustrates me the most,” he said.

Bob Dunford, the city's director of road maintenance, said the high volume of snow led crews to forego the schedule in favour of simply getting the job done.

On Friday, Dunford said he believes the blading schedule can work after a typical snowfall, "but this one was definitely an exceptional one, and I think that we overreached ourselves in the scheduling."

Councillors will debate the city’s new snow clearing policy later this week.