OLDS — The town has earmarked $75,000 in its proposed 2024 budget to fix up utility digs where “full remediation has not taken place” according to director of infrastructure Adrian Pedro.
During budget debate, council was told there are several such sites in town.
Chief administrative officer Brent Williams said if proper material such as asphalt or concrete haven’t been laid over those digs, water and ice can get in there, leading to more problems.
“Anywhere you see a gravel patch there’s potential for infiltration, essentially,” Williams said.
Coun. Daley wondered if town staff could utilize an IR paver – a kind of portable paving machine -- that was purchased a few years ago for that work.
By and large, Williams and Pedro said no, not really.
Williams said some of these utility digs can be 10 feet by 10 feet; too big for the paver to deal with efficiently.
Pedro said the idea would be for those projects to be contracted out.
Williams said the IR paver is better suited to smaller jobs like filling potholes or cracks in pavement.
“Can we expect the IR paver then to be more committed, I guess, to the roadway maintenance,” Daley asked.
“That would be the intent,” Pedro said.
Mayor Judy Dahl asked if the digs weren’t fully repaired due to a lack of town staff.
Williams doubted town staff "ever had the capacity to do large-scale asphalt repairs like this.”
He and Pedro said the idea is to catch up on these repairs, then have a plan and funding in place to stay on top of them in the future.
