Westlock County council recognizes there are a number of unsatisfactorily maintained roads in the municipality and are asking for patience as it figures out how to go about fixing them.
Deputy reeve Brian Coleman requested the topic be added to the June 26 meeting agenda and that council discuss reviewing road-maintenance allocations and methods to determine if the county’s resources are being used in the most effective manner given the changes to the road conditions brought about by spring flooding.
Council also approved a motion asking administration to research the cost of hiring two seasonal operators.
Coleman said he’s received several phone calls from ratepayers who are unhappy with the condition of many roads at this point in the year.
“Our residents have become very impatient with the road situation,” Coleman told council.
“We are passed the middle of June and many of our roads are still in very poor condition. They believe we need to reevaluate our situation and possibly reallocate some of the $528,000 that we had moved forward to immediately start work on road repairs and possibly putting the construction grader to work.”
Council had previously brought forward $528,000 from last year’s budget that was meant for graveling that could not be completed due to uncooperative weather.
“I’m really, really, really getting tired of the same ratepayers complaining about the same piece of road for 60 days. It’s not their fault, that’s what I’m there for, to take their call, to take their complaint, but it’s getting really old and it has got to change,” said Coun. Fred Slobodian.
“We’ve got the equipment to do the work, I think we’ve got the people to do the work, so let’s just go and do the work. If we have to reschedule some things to get that done, then do it. When you’ve got areas that are impassable after it rains they require attention ahead of the gravel-spread program.”
Director of infrastructure Al Scott told council he has had several ratepayers express their displeasure with how jobs are prioritized and he’s looking for direction from council as to how to proceed.
Not only that, he was looking for direction as to what to tell his staff to say when they are cornered by residents in their daily life away from work.
“Nobody wants these roads fixed more than I do,” said Scott. “I’m tired, as well, of the consistent and constant issues we have on the roads.
“I’ve driven the roads in Division 1 through Division 7 and when spring came, yes, they were horrible, they were terrible. There was a lot of work to be done.
“We’ve run our grader operators 12 hours a day, seven days a week as much as we can. We’re running our gravel trucks for 10 to 12 hours a day, up to six days a week whenever we can, but keep in mind that these guys aren’t robots.”
Chief administrative officer Leo Ludwig said the county is currently experiencing an infrastructure deficit.
“We have a situation that we’ve inherited, all of us,” said Ludwig. “It was not an overnight deterioration to this point. We have 60 years of the accumulated effect of not reinvesting in our road infrastructure at a level that we should have, so now we’re looking for solutions and that’s going to require some patience because it’s going to take us some time for us to get this infrastructure into a condition that is able to handle today’s demands.”
Reeve Lou Hall said she understands residents’ frustrations, but urges them to be patient as the area did experience a wet fall and a very wet spring, which hinders scheduled work.
“People need to be patient. These guys are working to their limits and you can do one road to make a person happy, but then another person is going to be unhappy. We support our director of infrastructure and our public works people because they are working to their limit,” she said after the meeting.
“It’s a bit demoralizing for the staff,” added Ludwig.
“They’re out there and they want to see good roads. They take pride in their work and it’s not the operators’ and the staff’s fault that the conditions of the road are what they are. It’s going to take time to turn it around because the key factor is finances. If you want to rebuild a road it’s about $350,000 a mile.”
