BARRHEAD - It will be a bit longer until the Town of Barrhead public works department knows the extent of the damage caused to municipal sidewalks and the repair schedule.
This is what public works director Sheldon Flett director told Town of Barrhead councillors during their April 22 meeting in response to a question from Coun. Don Smith regarding which neighbourhoods or sidewalks the town would do first.
"There are a lot that I would like done. We do have some that are on the top of the list, but there will be some that are in worse shape," he said.
However, Flett said he couldn't be sure which sidewalks or roadways would end up at the top of the list.
"Now that the snow's gone, we'll be taking another look as things move in the winter, and you have to wait a while to let them settle to get a good assessment. If you look too soon, it might look worse than it is because the frost heaves haven't settled," he said.
Smith then asked corporate services director Jennifer Mantay what the sidewalk repair budget was in 2025.
Mantay did not have the figures but believed it was estimated to be roughly $140,000.
Coun. Dave Sawatzky asked if public works ever analyzed whether it was more cost-effective to do sidewalk repair work in-house versus contracting it out.
Flett said, for the most part, the town's sidewalk repairs were contracted out.
"We could do some of the smaller jobs, but for some of the larger ones, it would require us to hire more people," he said, adding that is more easily said than done. "It is pretty hard work, and there is a lot to concrete work, plus the people who do that kind of work are my age."
Coun. Dausen Kluin asked if public works planned to add any new sidewalks this year, noting he believed the town had set aside roughly $40,000 for the possibility.
Flett said he did not foresee any.
"Unless new projects go up that need sidewalks," he said.
Mayor Dave McKenzie added that in recent years, the council has questioned whether sidewalks were always necessary, asking if any existing sidewalks public works were considering decommissioning once their effective lifespans had ended.
"There has been a lot of discussion about traffic safety; some science supports that, in some cases, just having a roadway is a better option than putting in a sidewalk that is adequate for the amount of traffic and users," he said. "I know we have had those discussions here where we've said the old four-foot sidewalk doesn't do it cut it anymore; it now has to be six feet and everything that entails in terms of costs and maintaining enough width of the roadway."
Planning, economic development, and legislative services director Jenny Bruns agreed, noting that is why some municipalities, especially those less affluent, only opt to have sidewalks on one side of the road.
Coun. Ty Assaf noticed the municipality had started street-sweeping, asking how long until public works started its pothole and crack repair program.
Flett said they have already begun, at least with the temporary patches, with the permanent cold-mix repairs beginning soon, noting like sidewalk repairs, any roadwork was best done after the frost has left the ground.
Coun. Rod Klumph asked about the status of the leak at the industrial reservoir.
In September, council approved a $100,000 repair to the old line going into the reservoir. In 2023, the municipality decommissioned the old line after they installed a new water line to supply the supply tank. Crews had to access the line from inside the reservoir to repair the leak.
Klumph also asked if public works received any new information from Alberta Environment and Protected Areas about potential upgrades the municipality might have to make at its wastewater lagoon site.
In early November, Mantay told council that the municipality is potentially facing a $22 million upgrade to its wastewater lagoons due to changes in environmental regulations and standards.
"We are supposed to hear something sometime in June to see if everything is OK regarding discharge," Flett said.
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
