Council urges stepped up road repairs

Posted 9/16/14

The need for road repairs following a long winter that left more than the usual share of potholes has been the mantra of many council members and candidates since this spring.

Yet, even though …

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Council urges stepped up road repairs

Posted

The need for road repairs following a long winter that left more than the usual share of potholes has been the mantra of many council members and candidates since this spring.

Yet, even though Mayor Scott Avedisian proposed a $5 million road bond, the referendum won’t appear on the November ballot. And despite cries that the city can’t wait to address road repairs and that the mayor should make cuts in the budget, reallocating the money for roads, a lot of city roads have been repaved in the past two years.

To be precise, 32 roads or sections thereof were either repaved or rebuilt in fiscal year 2013. An additional 12 roads were repaved in fiscal year 2014, and more roads are being repaved in the current fiscal year.

“We’re continuing on a program,” acting chief of staff William DePasquale said Tuesday. “No one can argue the program we have in place isn’t successful.”

That program is funded with a $450,000 budget allocation that the council sought to boost by $1 million in its budget revisions. The mayor vetoed the council budget, proposing the $5 million road bond. The council didn’t have the votes to override the veto so the $450,000 remained unchanged.

Now that there isn’t the time to get the bond issue on the ballot, voter approval would have to wait for a special election or the 2016 ballot. Some council members say Avedisian should find the money in the current budget.

And they have a suggestion that the $800,000 the mayor use the appropriated for $1,000 bonuses for city employees be used.

“Why not use the $900,000 immediately?” said Ward 4 Councilman Joseph Solomon at Monday’s meeting. “Let’s do road improvements now instead of after a special election.”

In a follow-up phone call, Solomon said he used the $900,000 amount because, according to his calculations, about 880 employees would receive the bonuses for something near $900,000.

“We’ve got the money in the coffers now,” Solomon said. “Bonding is going to put us another two years behind the eight ball.”

His suggestion was embraced by Ward 5 Councilman Ed Ladouceur, who has been critical of the proposed bond on the basis that it will cost taxpayers an additional $3 million in interest expenses for improvements that won’t last the 20-year lifespan of the bond.

“You’re not going to get asphalt until 2017,” Ladouceur said of the bond plan. What he would like to have happen is for the administration to allocate $1.5 million for roads for the next five years.

“This makes no business sense,” Ladouceur said of the bond. Ward 1 Councilman Steven Colantuono liked the idea of beefing up road repairs. “If the money is available, do the work now. You’re absolutely right, do what we can now.”

But where’s the money?

Asked outside of the meeting, DePasquale said, while bonuses have not been issued, the plan has not been scuttled. In order to grant the bonuses, the administration is looking to the three unions, now in the final year of a three-year no increase contract to forego a wage re-opener in the current year.

As for the bond, the council unanimously gave first passage to the $5 million proposal in August. But in order for it to appear on the November ballot, the bond required second passage by the end of August. There was no second council meeting in August.

With no chance of getting the bond question on the November ballot, the council postponed a vote last Monday. The measure will likely be amended to allow for the question to appear on a special election ballot prior to 2016 should that happen. That could happen if voters approve a constitutional convention – a question that is on the November ballot. If the convention were approved, an election would then be held to name convention delegates.

Ward 9 Councilman Steve Merolla said it is “frustrating” that the bond won’t be on the ballot this fall as it means, at the earliest – should voters approve the funding – the money wouldn’t become available to 2017. Ladouceur said he wouldn’t support the bond.

“We need to take a strong business approach to this. We have an opportunity to do something about it now.”

Solomon is opposed to the bond on the basis of the added debt. “We have the ability to do this now,” he said.

The council talked of a resolution calling on the mayor to find additional funds in the budget to increase road repairs.

DePasquale wouldn’t discuss how the administration would respond to such a resolution until it passes. He pointed out that the existing repaving program “leverages” funds. How this works is, when National Grid upgrades natural gas lines, which it has been doing across the city, rather than repaving just for the pipe work, the entire road is repaved. The utility and the city share the cost.

Furthermore, DePasquale said, “The program is not about repaving every road.”

Rather, roads are assessed and depending on conditions may be crack sealed, scraped and repaved or completely rebuilt.

“Roads are not as bad in this city as some people would say,” acting director of public works David Picozzi said last week.He said his biggest concern is Jefferson Boulevard, which is three miles long and four lanes wide. While the road is in acceptable shape now, Picozzi believes the city needs to start preparing for repaving.

“It’s a lot of money,” he said.

He said he would be talking to the state about assistance, since the road carries a lot more than local traffic.

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