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Snow melts in March, something even city hall can’t do a damn thing about it. But oh, how it tries.
Keith McLean is walking along Zokol Crescent near his home in Kanata Lakes, coat open, boots undone, to show me something. We get to Weslock Way, from which the snowbanks were taken away earlier in March. It is wide and clear and patches of lawn are growing at the curb.
“This is exactly what happened last year. I paid. You paid. Every taxpayer paid for this.”
McLean, 82, is a retired transportation engineer. A year ago, he complained the city was needlessly taking away snow on Kanata streets late in the season, when Mother Nature was ready to do the same job. For free.
“The City is at it again with virtually identical conditions,” he wrote indignantly to Mayor Jim Watson this week. “Why, with a deficit, is the City incurring UNNECESSARY costs repeating the mistakes of the past?”
In 2015, the winter operations budget was $60 million. It ran a $7.6 million deficit. The entire city, meanwhile, ended 2015 $42 million in the hole. So, of course he wonders why crews are hauling away snow only days before it turns to water.
The mayor’s response read like a pat on the head. “Thank you for your email and for your insights,” it began, encouraging McLean to call 311 or email service Ottawa with a precise location.
Well, hell hath no fury like a smart senior with time on his hands, no patience for baloney and a warmed-up email account.
So he kept going, next to John Moser, the acting deputy manager, then to Ken Hughes, the auditor general, then to Kevin Wylie, who looped in Luc Gagné and Chad Findlay, all in the public works section.
The city’s position, in a nutshell, is that during the melt, crews need to keep removing snow in certain areas to improve drainage and clear catch basins in order to prevent flooding.
“Response will be similar to last year. Removals were done with our own staff on regular time. The locations are trouble spots or cul-de-sac and the purpose is for drainage and preparation for spring sweeping,” wrote Wylie, the general manager of Public Works.
McLean disagrees. “There was no need for it to be hauled away.”
The most interesting response in the email maze was from Hughes, who recently completed an audit on the city’s winter operations. He was a little defensive, but with a smile.
“Mr. McLean, you sent your email on the 5th of March at 0750 hours. I read it as soon as it came in. I remember because it came in while pouring my second cup of coffee while reviewing some files.”
In any case, he pointed the pesky widower to a couple of sections in his report that touch on efforts to find savings in snow removal.
One read: “(Public Works) does not have a documented process to identify potential operational efficiencies to realize cost reductions. Detailed information on staff allocation by activity is not presently considered, analysed and included in the planning process for potential operational changes or to identify efficiencies.”
The Hughes report leaves the impression the department is not breaking a sweat in an effort to save money:
“When there is no requirement to apply abrasives or plow/clear snow, staff is assigned to miscellaneous duties. There is no formal or documented list of tasks to be addressed on a priority basis.” He continued: “The volume of work related to these miscellaneous activities in unquantified. Without a clearly demonstrated need, some of this work could potentially be eliminated to reduce costs.”
Only to conclude: “Procedures for the Supervisor’s review of the adequacy of snow clearing activities are largely unstructured and experience-based.”
McLean, who actually worked in the municipal sphere from 1965 to 1974, says there are excellent people at the city (including Hughes) but says, overall, he’s disappointed with the response.
He also points to an interview Watson gave to a Kanata weekly paper in which he said the city needs to reasonably decrease snow-removal, as a cost savings, when it makes sense. Letting snow melt, instead of hauling it miles away in huge trucks, might be a start.
All credit to McLean for doggedly looking for answers. There is nothing more valuable than an engaged citizen asking government to justify its methods, and wondering why it’s content with the same results, come hell or high water.
To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-726-5896 or email kegan@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/kellyegancolumn
查看原文...
Keith McLean is walking along Zokol Crescent near his home in Kanata Lakes, coat open, boots undone, to show me something. We get to Weslock Way, from which the snowbanks were taken away earlier in March. It is wide and clear and patches of lawn are growing at the curb.
“This is exactly what happened last year. I paid. You paid. Every taxpayer paid for this.”
McLean, 82, is a retired transportation engineer. A year ago, he complained the city was needlessly taking away snow on Kanata streets late in the season, when Mother Nature was ready to do the same job. For free.
“The City is at it again with virtually identical conditions,” he wrote indignantly to Mayor Jim Watson this week. “Why, with a deficit, is the City incurring UNNECESSARY costs repeating the mistakes of the past?”
In 2015, the winter operations budget was $60 million. It ran a $7.6 million deficit. The entire city, meanwhile, ended 2015 $42 million in the hole. So, of course he wonders why crews are hauling away snow only days before it turns to water.
The mayor’s response read like a pat on the head. “Thank you for your email and for your insights,” it began, encouraging McLean to call 311 or email service Ottawa with a precise location.
Well, hell hath no fury like a smart senior with time on his hands, no patience for baloney and a warmed-up email account.
So he kept going, next to John Moser, the acting deputy manager, then to Ken Hughes, the auditor general, then to Kevin Wylie, who looped in Luc Gagné and Chad Findlay, all in the public works section.
The city’s position, in a nutshell, is that during the melt, crews need to keep removing snow in certain areas to improve drainage and clear catch basins in order to prevent flooding.
“Response will be similar to last year. Removals were done with our own staff on regular time. The locations are trouble spots or cul-de-sac and the purpose is for drainage and preparation for spring sweeping,” wrote Wylie, the general manager of Public Works.
McLean disagrees. “There was no need for it to be hauled away.”
The most interesting response in the email maze was from Hughes, who recently completed an audit on the city’s winter operations. He was a little defensive, but with a smile.
“Mr. McLean, you sent your email on the 5th of March at 0750 hours. I read it as soon as it came in. I remember because it came in while pouring my second cup of coffee while reviewing some files.”
In any case, he pointed the pesky widower to a couple of sections in his report that touch on efforts to find savings in snow removal.
One read: “(Public Works) does not have a documented process to identify potential operational efficiencies to realize cost reductions. Detailed information on staff allocation by activity is not presently considered, analysed and included in the planning process for potential operational changes or to identify efficiencies.”
The Hughes report leaves the impression the department is not breaking a sweat in an effort to save money:
“When there is no requirement to apply abrasives or plow/clear snow, staff is assigned to miscellaneous duties. There is no formal or documented list of tasks to be addressed on a priority basis.” He continued: “The volume of work related to these miscellaneous activities in unquantified. Without a clearly demonstrated need, some of this work could potentially be eliminated to reduce costs.”
Only to conclude: “Procedures for the Supervisor’s review of the adequacy of snow clearing activities are largely unstructured and experience-based.”
McLean, who actually worked in the municipal sphere from 1965 to 1974, says there are excellent people at the city (including Hughes) but says, overall, he’s disappointed with the response.
He also points to an interview Watson gave to a Kanata weekly paper in which he said the city needs to reasonably decrease snow-removal, as a cost savings, when it makes sense. Letting snow melt, instead of hauling it miles away in huge trucks, might be a start.
All credit to McLean for doggedly looking for answers. There is nothing more valuable than an engaged citizen asking government to justify its methods, and wondering why it’s content with the same results, come hell or high water.
To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-726-5896 or email kegan@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/kellyegancolumn
查看原文...
