It wasn’t a shock to municipal inspectors that Westlock County’s roads was one of the most repeated issues heard in the provincially-ordered investigation.
Although road conditions were touched upon, this time the municipal inspection report brought to light that councillors interfered with enforcing road-weight restrictions, didn’t comply with local and provincial road standards, while staff made questionable deals for rental equipment.
The county has about 2,200 kilometres of roads, so with many of them constructed more than 50 years ago, inspectors agreed that they weren’t designed for the heavy weights and equipment driving over them.
“It doesn’t come as any surprise that road conditions was one of the most frequently expressed concerns by ratepayers in the county,” said Strategic Steps Inc. inspector Ted Gillespie.
Meanwhile at council meetings, inspectors observed conversation dip into the operational side of things, like the amount of gravel on roads, which the report then recommended council stick with a higher level of policy-based governance.
Overweight loads
The county specifically has a bylaw for traffic control and road protection, which outlines weight restrictions on local roads and bridges. However, the report found that councillors interfered with local peace officer training efforts and enforcement of road weight restrictions.
Inspectors were given documents that showed the county peace officer had registered for training on weights and restrictions in early 2014, but council intervened.
An e-mail from a county clerk asked to stop the payment for training because council felt it “did not have to produce that level of service for (its) ratepayers.”
Prior to that, then-reeve Bud Massey had sent an abrupt e-mail to the county fire chief, who was the peace officer’s manager, writing that council “clearly indicated” they didn’t wish the officer to attended the training and that the fire chief “authorized it even though (he) clearly heard council say no.”
“It appears that our wishes are not respected. Maybe we have to be very, very directive,” Massey said.
The day after, Massey apologized to the CAO at the time for directly addressing the fire chief and not going through the CAO. Former Coun. Jim Wiese was also noted in the report to have “expressed emotionally-charged comments” to the peace officer during a Sept. 2016 traffic stop.
Wiese reportedly said: “It’s the same thing when you were going to take the weights and measures courses. We said you’re not going to do that because we don’t want that happening.”
He later told inspectors that council previously planned to sell the officer’s weigh scales.
A draft memorandum of understanding for an enhanced RCMP officer contract, which is now expired, also took a section out for weights and measures for commercial vehicle dimensions and regulations.
“The permissive approach, turning a blind eye to restricting heavy loads, is an example of short-sighted leadership which is at complete cross-purposes to noble and costly road upgrades,” reads the report.
Inspectors also noticed that some councillors publicly said road bans wouldn’t be enforced.
“While council certainly has the right not to establish road bans, it’s not appropriate to have those rules in place and declare that road bans won’t be enforced,” said Gillespie. “If council do decide not to enact road management legislation, it would be appropriate to do some work to fully understand the cost to ratepayers for not enforcing road bans due to premature failure of segments of road and bridge infrastructure.”
In addition, Gillespie said these added costs should be built into the budget with the understanding that council would be subsidizing gravel haul and commercial operations on the backs of the general taxpayer.
Rental equipment
The report noted that in 2015 equipment rental arrangements were unclear and competitive procurement practices weren’t followed.
At one point, a county supervisor switched rental companies that supplied heavy equipment between May 2015 and April 2016. According to the county’s purchasing policy, three competitive quotes are needed. Inspectors were told the new company, Iron City Rentals in St. Albert, had “better deals” although no records of competitive quotes were found.
Councillors told the inspectors that they questioned the switch and were advised by the supervisor that the county would get better deals.
Another issue brought up was that a supervisor instructed staff members to pick up and drop off equipment at “unusual locations within and outside the county.”
“Some stakeholders expressed a concern that a county supervisor allegedly orchestrated a third-party rental company as a ‘shell’ in order to pay off personal debts owed from previous business dealings,” the report said.
Former-CAO Peter Kelly directing equipment and operators away from priority projects for the Horizon North industrial park deal also raised eyebrows.
Councillors were reportedly concerned that rented equipment was in the county’s hands but not always in use.
Inspectors also found an anomaly in equipment rental costs. In 2013 and 2014, costs totalled about $45,400 and $21,260 respectively, but between May 2015 and April 2016, expenses came in at more than $150,000.
A former director told inspectors that those costs were due to a “significant effort” to fix compliance issues at the regional landfill and county gravel pit.
The report recommends that the county review its procurement policies, practices and procedures so that the proper controls are in place. The report also recommended that these practices abide by the Municipal Government Act, other legislation and trade agreements.
Long-term planning
The report compared the county to eight other rural municipalities and Westlock was the fourth highest in the group with the number of roads it has to maintain.
On the other hand, it had the second lowest equalized assessment per kilometre of open road, meaning there is a smaller assessment base to generate taxes.
The report said that rebuilding the roads would cost an estimated $100,000 per kilometre, so instead it recommended there be a thorough evaluation, followed by a long-term road management plan.
Based on this, Gillespie said council would need to set realistic goals within an adequate budget to maintain services.
The plan would include things like road reconstruction, road maintenance through shoulder pulls, gravel, drainage and ditches, removal of trees, as well as road ban enforcement.
“I should note that at the time of the inspection, the management team, which was basically brand new, did recognize this and were in the process of developing this, and we’re sure it’ll be part of the budget process later this year,” Gillespie said.
Highway 44 intersection
With Alberta Transportation set to overhaul the Highway 44 intersection at the county industrial park, inspectors found that council and administration didn’t budget for the necessary highway upgrades when it was built.
As a result, inspectors concluded that they chose not to comply with provincial highway standards and doing so had increased safety risks entering and exiting the park.
The report recommended that council create an off-site levy bylaw so that the county could recover costs, particularly for the highway upgrade.
