Quesnel City Council will dip into its Capital Reinvestment Fund to pay for some unexpected repairs to four local roads.
Matt Thomas is the Director of Public Works.
“Abbott Drive, Flamingo/Perry Street, Wilkinson Avenue, Tingley Drive and Twan Avenue. After the winter season the above mentioned roads have broken down to a point where driver safety is a concern. Although these roads have been discussed for future repairs it became apparent that these repairs could not wait.”
Thomas says other road repairs such as Rita Road, Anderson Drive and Doherty Drive have already been earmarked for repairs under the capital paving projects, and the existing asphalt paving accounts, and he said they should not be pushed back.
The cost to repair these roads is around 200 thousand dollars.
Councillor Ron Paull wondered if Council should expect these sort of circumstances in future years.
“That staff consider and recommend if necessary, whether the annual road repair budget allotment should be increased in anticipation of continuing deterioration of city roads and streets.”
Mayor Bob Simpson noted however, that a process was already in place to do this.
“We do that on an annual basis anyway, you don’t need to add that as a recommendation. That’s exactly what public works does on an annual basis and it’s part of both our capital and our maintenance planning.”
Councillor Mitch Vik wondered if the City could get provincial help.
That idea was also shot down as both the Director of Finance and Mayor Simpson.
“There is no way that the province is going to step on nominal repairs like this in a municipality because you can imagine the can of worms they’re opening up, and we maintain our roads, and we use taxpayer dollars to maintain our infrastructure. ”
Simpson says there are a lot of municipalities who don’t maintain their roads, who are waiting for the province to come in and rescue them.
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