This editorial is in reference to the article in this edition in the city council section, ‘City hall redeploys permanent staff to road projects as job-saving measure.’
Honestly, the brilliance of City Hall to keep higher-paid employees employed during this pandemic at their fixed salary to fix potholes is absolutely absurd by any normal standards, rather than hiring temporary workers who are skilled to do the job but probably on a lesser pay scale. Later on in the article, Mr. Puffalt states, “Corporate knowledge is important to most cities and this skeleton staff has kept things running the past eight weeks; without permanent employees, we would be hard-pressed to do so.”
The question coming to mind is, ‘If the city is retaining permanent staff, then how could it be a skeleton staff?’ …with no loss of permanent employees.
I can just see it now, displaced city workers, some possibly white-collar, standing side-by-side watching the whole ordeal, while one or two workers (who might know what they are doing) attempt to do the grunt work, as seems often the case anyways. City of Moose Jaw, you have to know that people take notice of how many city vehicles are driving around the city looking like they have a purpose and how many workers are actually doing the work, while many stand around enjoying the fresh air.
And of course, I say very facetiously, we see everyday the absolutely impeccable work the street crews do to fix the roads in Moose Jaw; God only knows, we know by experience; we drive the streets, especially 9th Ave. W to and from work.
Take for example the recent work done on the corner of 9th Ave. and Caribou W. It was only a few weeks ago that this busy intersection was dug up and refilled, bringing to mind the joke, “How many city workers does it take to fill a pothole?” Apparently 11 reported by a Moose Jaw resident who called the office requesting us to drive by and take a photo. Within a couple of weeks, the intersection was in worse repair than before, so grooved-in that it was almost impassible.
And then recently…again at that intersection, another layer of incompetence has been temporarily applied to what avail? Reminds me of what Obama said years ago, “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.”
If you put another layer of temporary fill to a hole on a poorly maintained city street in Moose Jaw and have paid workers fill that hole numerous times, what benefit is it to the people who drive those streets or the people who pay the taxes so that these workers can have a job?
The business logic in the decision-making at city hall certainly seems to be lacking, and then all we get during aired council meetings is a bunch of fluff from bureaucrats that never seems to bring any positive results or benefits to the residents of Moose Jaw.
Another example: After 11+ years coming to the office on Manitoba St. W, the lines on 1st Ave. have been re-painted at least two, three or more times a year with city-acknowledged crap- paint, paying crews to do the same job over and over, year after year to no avail. The paint lasts for a couple of weeks and then markings disappear. Where is the logic?
During last week’s council meeting, Mr. Puffalt stated that the lines on 1st Ave. W would again be painted by the end of last week (to be seen), expecting to use better paint.
Brilliant decision, but the proof will be in the painting!
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And guess what? As soon as our paper The Moose Jaw Express was out on Tuesday, May 19th with this editorial and even though a mistake was made in the hard copy citing Athabasca & 9th NW rather than Caribou & 9th NW, the city sure figured out which intersection I was referring to.
Later that day, a little after 4 p.m., a press release was released by the city stating that there would be road repairs starting tomorrow (now that's what I call a direct response to a complaint; too bad it took so long...): "Crews will perform an excavation of the intersection of 9th Avenue NW and Caribou St. and rebuild the road to fix damage from a significant water main break in January. The road closure will be in effect during construction, which is anticipated to be complete by 5:00 p.m. Saturday, May 23, 2020 (weather permitting)."
I guess the 'squeaky wheel does get the grease' once in awhile, and hoping the repair will withstand...for more than a couple weeks.
