The town of Bancroft, Ontario, will hire contractor Carillion for this year’s winter maintenance operations on connecting link highways in town, a decision that rejects a proposal to keep those operations in-house.
Public Works Manager Perry Kelly had recently suggested that town staff should take on winter maintenance on 11 km of Highways 62 and 28. Kelly told the town council this would save them $10,000 a year, and would also give the town more control as to when roads are being salted and plowed.
At a special meeting this week, the council decided against the move based on a recommendation from the infrastructure committee. The committee explained the recommendation was put forward because the town still needs to figure out details of a potential new public works yard.
The town currently does not have anywhere to store salt, something the committee hopes to see included as part of the potential new public works yard. Requests for proposals have been sent out to build the new works yard, but there is no certainty as to when they will be returned. After that, the town could look into taking winter maintenance on connecting link highways in-house next year.
Carillion is asking for $110,000 to take on these operations this winter, which does not factor in the cost of salt.
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Source: My Bancroft Now
