The continued delays in completing projects throughout the city have frustrated Coun. Dawn Luhning, especially since some council-related initiatives have been ongoing without resolution for nearly two years.
Luhning raised her concerns during the Aug. 22 regular council meeting after city administration presented a report looking at the second-quarter activities of city departments.
Internal message board
The first concern Luhning had was it had taken nearly two years for the IT department to complete an internal message board for city council to track residents’ inquiries.
The second-quarter report said the department has created a program to track issues and made some “tweaks” during Q2, while it expected the program to go live in Q3.
“As great as it is that it’s in the testing phase, I find it interesting that it takes two years to get your elected officials some sort of a system that we can track these inquiries that citizens bring to us … ,” Luhning said. “And managing those kinds of requests just in the inbox, I find to be onerous.”
Luhning pointed out that council passed a motion two years ago to create this internal messaging board, while having that software would have been useful during the past few years.
“I have a concern about the length of time these things take,” she continued, noting one reason residents contact councillors is because someone at city hall was unable to help them.
“And the sands in the hourglass are still ticking because we don’t have it yet,” she added.
Online phone system
The second issue was that city hall’s Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) phone system was still not active even though it has been on council’s radar for years. Luhning noted that this technology has advanced quickly and shouldn’t take forever to install.
Luhning pointed out it took the Moose Jaw Police Service three months to implement a new VOIP system in its building.
Construction project delays
Luhning’s biggest concern was the state of construction projects at Normandy Drive, First Avenue Northwest and Wood Lily Drive near Sunningdale School. She returned from vacation recently to find Normandy still closed, First Avenue incomplete and Wood Lily recently finished after five weeks of work.
“I’m struggling with why it takes so long (to complete these projects) … ,” she said, noting that she drove by Normandy Drive recently to find no one working at 10:55 a.m. “This has got to be frustrating for people living in these areas … .”
Luhning thought contractors could complete projects faster by working around the clock. This would also assuage residents who are concerned about not seeing anyone working.
“I think we as council need to address this, especially when the weather is 30 degrees. This is the opportunity to get work completed,” she added. “When I’m the elected official, and I hear from residents that that street on Normandy Drive is closed for two months, I think that’s unrealistic.”
City hall’s response
In response, city manager Jim Puffalt said there has been an internal system since 2018 to answer council inquiries with a 48-hour turnaround time. Furthermore, anytime council has an inquiry, members can contact his office.
As for construction, four years ago, the city was only completing 60 per cent of its scheduled work, whereas it’s now working on completing everything within the year, he continued.
“We’ve made great progress over the last while and it’s important to remember where we’ve come from and where we’re going,” Puffalt added.
Ryan MacKay, director of IT, said off-the-shelf VOIP systems are easy to install, which is what Mosaic Place did last year. However, that is not what city hall wants since it wants a communications platform that is better, less expensive and more integrated.
“I know this one has been on the books. We started working on it this year when all the pieces fell into place,” he said, noting work on the system would begin soon.
MacKay pointed out the police and Mosaic Place have one line of business, while the city has many lines of business and each department has unique requirements. The system will offer many new features, such as shifting customer calls to other departments to answer if a large queue forms.
Bevan Harlton, director of engineering, explained that replacing cast iron pipes takes five to seven weeks per block. The 1000 block of First Avenue Northwest is 1,080 metres long, so it will take two months to replace that pipe.
Harlton acknowledged that Normandy Drive and Wood Lily Drive have been slow to complete. The latter project started July 27 and finished Aug. 17, while the former should be done by Aug. 26 once the contractor fixes a piece of equipment.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Sept. 12.
