The City of Nanaimo is allocating an additional $12,000 to provide additional street cleaning for the downtown Nanaimo area. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

Clean Team

City Council boosts south Nanaimo clean-up efforts

Sep 17, 2025 | 5:59 AM

NANAIMO — Previously committed funding and redirected resource deployment hope to widen the impacts of clean-up efforts resulting from social disorder issues in south Nanaimo.

On Monday, Sept. 15, Nanaimo City Council voted for several directives to adjust deployments for the City’s Community Clean Teams, encompassing two teams of four workers providing daily service on downtown area streets, parks and parkades.

The move followed a notice of motion at the July 28 council meeting to investigate additional cleaning services for Nanaimo’s south end.

Council approved the directive in a vote of 8-1, with Mayor Leonard Krog the lone dissenting voice in favour of a similar second option, which would have added weekly street-sweeping on key corridors such as Nicol St. and Victoria Rd.

“I think any improvement, including street sweeping, given the cost involved, is a potential improvement, and so for that reason I’ll be voting against the motion in the hopes that we might approve option two,” Krog said.

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The extra street sweeping came with an additional budget of $12,000, which would have been provided by a third-party contractor through the end of March 2026.

Coun. Erin Hemmens told the meeting local neighbourhood priorities expressed the need for collecting litter from properties, sidewalks and business entrances.

“I’m happy to support the reallocation and increased services, but I don’t think the street sweeping is really going to meet the need,” Hemmens said.

David Thompson, the City’s manager of roads and traffic services, told NanaimoNewsNOW pending internal meetings, they will discuss the logistics and implementation of the direction provided by Council.

Nanaimo’s Community Clean Team became a full-time entity in 2022 following a two-year pilot program.

The team, which works with the City’s Community Safety Officer program, collects debris from parks, sidewalks, alleyways and encampments.

Both Clean Teams operate a specialized service box truck with an attached pressure washer and numerous tools.

According to a City staff report, the City’s Clean Team removed over 160 tonnes of debris off Nanaimo’s streets last year for disposal at the regional landfill.

In the first eight months of this year, the team has collected and disposed of 93 tonnes of debris.

The Downtown Nanaimo Community Safety Action Plan map demonstrates the focus areas of Community Safety Officers and Clean Team members. (City of Nanaimo)

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