At Mississippi Mills council’s recent committee meeting, Director of Roads and Public Works, Cory Smith presented a detailed report on his department’s service delivery.
It revealed a lean department, in terms of staff, with the Mills having some of the highest number of kilometres of roads per operator and fleet units per mechanic in a comparison with 5 other similar municipalities in Eastern Ontario. He stated that while his department was able to keep up with mandated core regulatory and operational tasks, non-core, planning, and improvement initiatives are frequently delayed due to workload pressures. He added that continued population and development growth, combined with a good portion of current staff approaching retirement age would only make things worse.
He noted that gravel roads, of which the municipality has 173 km, create a significant friction point with residents. He stated an operational review for gravel roads was a top priority. He added the provincial standards lacked detail and direction on much of the maintenance menus for gravel roads and that their minimum maintenance standard for low-volume rural roads wouldn’t come close to residents’ expectations. He quoted, as an example, that those Provincial standards would give his crew up to 30 days to respond to a pothole the size of a medium pizza and the depth of a hockey puck on its side. He continued the comparison adding that a pothole of small pizza size, wouldn’t require any repair.
Council’s committee approved completing an operational gravel review, and gravel roads needs’ study as well as getting an internal report on how many new hires were needed.
Story by Brian Turner
