The City of Cranbrook is near the completion of its road paving program for the year. At council on Aug. 17, Mayor Lee Pratt said around town he’s heard tons of comments regarding the roadwork.
“And they’re all good comments, they’re very pleased with it,” Pratt said. “So I commend the staff and all the work that was done on that.”
Pratt also noted that the city welcomes a new addition to its road work roster, as the new pot hole machine has arrived.
CAO Wayne Staudt said the machine has been tested and city staff has been happy with its performance.
Staudt echoed the mayor’s sentiment on the roads.
“If you have been driving around the city, I’m sure you can see all the new paving,” Staudt said. “I know as a driver myself it’s noticeable. There are very noticeable sections of town that have had a major improvement as a result of these significant paving projects we’ve taken on this year.”
Staudt said the project is drawing to a close, and if money is left over, the Engineering Department will come back to council with potential extra road work.
“We might bring it back to you and see if we want to do some additional projects,” Staudt said.
Mayor Pratt brought up one issue — the road into the municipal campground.
“I thought during the budget talks that we had that the road into the municipal camp ground was scheduled to be paved,” Pratt said. “It seems to me that I recall that the dollar figure was not that great. Then I thought what a welcome to our municipal campground — this beautiful campground — and they have to drive through this terrible chunk of road. And I remarked last year, all that equipment was right around the corner doing 15th (Avenue).”
Pratt said it does not reflect well on the city.
“I’ve heard a lot of comments from people that stay there and drive through there, and the park operator they get lots of comments too that what a welcome this is,” Pratt said. “It’s embarrassing to be frank with it.”
Staudt said he didn’t recall any staff at the city saying they would do it.
“But maybe we did,” he said. He added that it could be that the road was meant to be paved by the contractor when some low-income housing went in.
“So we might still be chasing that contractor to fulfill his obligations.”