The district of Clearwater wants the public to know it is addressing local concerns regarding road maintenance with the new contractor, Black River Contracting (BRC).
In a news release, the district admitted the level of service has not met contract service levels standards and that they are actively working with the new contractor to “rectify service gaps and enhance overall performance.”
The road maintenance contract was up for tender in July 2023 with the District of Clearwater (DOC) only receiving one bid at that time.
The term of the contract is for a five-year period with the annual amount totaling $633,000.
“As someone that ran government contract for well over a decade, I fully understand how contracts work and a lot of this road maintenance contract relates to that,” said Clearwater mayor Merlin Blackwell. “Having said that I also understand the processes into getting contractors into compliance with regards to paperwork and inspection. It’s a conversation, it’s not an instant decision. We, as a district, must give a contractor time to come into compliance and get up to standard and this contractor fully understands that.”
Blackwell said he understands “some of the public being upset about the conditions on the roads” and acknowledges many complaints coming into the district office recently.
“We are tracking those complaints and I think the contractor is prepared to acknowledge those during the council meeting where he will be making a presentation to council, that some of those complaints are valid. We are going to work together to get him back up to speed and compliance and then we move forward from there, it’s as simple as that.”
The mayor strongly feels the owner of BRC, Kelly Sunderman, is fully aware that “he’s not up to standard” and he is ready to deal with this. Recent snow events have “revealed shortcomings in meeting contractual obligations” and the district staff continue to meet with the contractor to address these standards.
The contract includes service level standards covering priority roads, cold weather standards, specified hours for snow clearing, and guidelines for addressing ice build-up on roads.
Some of the complaints received were about issues involving the use of large gravel instead of sand and ice build-up on main arterial and local roads.
“If people complain directly to the contractor they should also lodge a complaint with the district office so we can log those complaints. That is part of doing due diligence as far as enforcing the contract terms,” said the mayor. “I think he generally wants to do a better job and he will be at the meeting today to offer his own explanation.”
Complaints regarding the contract should be directed to the contractor, Black River Contracting at: 250-587-6149 and the district of Clearwater advises if a resident feels that their complaint was not actioned in a timely manner by the contractor they should submit a follow-up complaint to the district office email at: admin@docbc.ca, call: 250-674-2257 or come to the office at Dutch Lake Centre in person. The DOC advises that timely reporting is crucial for addressing concerns with the contractor.
The contractor is scheduled to address council during the regular meeting on. Tuesday, Jan. 16 at 2:00 p.m. to explain stat-up challenges and presenting plans to address existing complaints.
