If you don’t see as many Penetanguishene roads getting their pothole repairs these days, it’s probably due to proactive measures by many years of maintenance which came before.
A ten-year report on the key performance indicators (KPI) for the roads division was brought to a recent Penetanguishene committee of the whole meeting.
The transportation and environmental services report looked at analysis on trends and operations on everything about town roads, from asphalt and potholes, to sewer systems, signal lights, sidewalks, and more.
Raised in the meeting were some questions by Coun. George Vadeboncoeur, who noticed statistics for corrective and preventative hours recorded over the decade, specific to manhours spent on potholes.
“I see a decline in pothole corrective hours in 2022 compared to previous years, and a decline in work orders as well,” said Vadeboncoeur. “Does this mean there was less time allocated to pothole repair? Or were staff assigned to this task as part of their daily responsibilities as time permits?”
Public works director Bryan Murray replied that staff had also noticed the decrease and spoken internally to its cause.
“The reason for the decline is as a result of the rotating pothole repair groups that (do repairs) on a weekly or bi-weekly basis,” said Murray, “which is noted in the decline in the actual reactionary work orders that we’ve issued – meaning complaints regarding specific areas.”
He added that it was a good notification, that “we are actually keeping on top of it, or showing a trend in a positive direction.”
Vadeboncoeur also asked if there was a minimum maintenance standard which applied to potholes as it does roads in the municipality. Murray’s response was yes, and that as the classes of arterial, collector and local roads in Penetanguishene had class designations for importance; so, too, do pothole repairs.
Another question asked by Vadeboncoeur regarded a discrepancy in data recording which should have tracked customer request response times but hadn’t over recent years.
“We noted that discrepancy as well,” replied Murray. “I’ve spoken to our administration staff so they can keep track of that through our existing work order system. We are actually in the process of transitioning to a new corporate management system so that moving forward we can keep better track of those trends.”
In response, Vadeboncoeur talked about the comments he had received on the timeframe of getting back to ratepayers with complaints and concerns.
“I’m of the view that timely response to ratepayer concerns or complaints is a very important customer service function,” said Vadeboncoeur. “I’m happy to hear that we’re working on developing a system that we can track those inquiries and concerns, and then get back to people in a timely way.”
The roads division key performance indicators report can be found in the council agenda page of the Town of Penetanguishene website.
Further information on roads and infrastructure within Penetanguishene, including a road network classification map, can be found in the asset management program located on the town website.
Meetings of Penetanguishene council are held on the second Wednesday of each month, and can be watched live on Rogers TV cable 53, or on the Rogers TV website.
Archives of council meetings are located on the Town of Penetanguishene YouTube channel.