Cost-cutting comes back to bite city
Not sure if everyone read last Saturday’ Search Engine column in The Standard.
Shame on those who didn’t. Because it contained an embarrassing acknowledgment by St. Catharines public works staff.
First, though, the question posed to Search Engine guru Karena Walter:
How come the railings on the Merritt Street bridge over the Canadian National Railway tracks are being replaced so soon? Egads, man, the $6.3-million bridge opened less than 10 years ago! (That last line might be mine. The exclamation point definitely is.)
The answer relates to cost-cutting, we were told
Budget constraints at the time prompted the city to backtrack from the preferred option of installing galvanized steel railings on the bridge and its stairs.
The Option B metal railing that was installed is rusting out, a state of ugliness hastened by the amount of road salt sprayed its way.
The $200,000 replacement railing will be galvanized metal and should be able to endure the elements for 20 or 30 years.
I haven’t had much cause to walk across the bridge the past decade, so I was oblivious to the state of the railings. A quick trip there this week provided enlightenment.
The railings, with their black, wrought-iron look, are in abysmal condition. Clearly, this didn’t happen overnight. I’m guessing the deterioration has been occurring for a few years. That would mean they failed rather quickly.
Yes, hindsight is 20-20. But given the corrosive quality of road salt and the likelihood it would come into frequent contact with the cheap metal, doesn’t the decision to cut costs in this manner seem short-sighted and dumb?
If you answered no, please stop reading.
I hope I’m not making a mountain out of a molehill here. The rusted-out railings are a cosmetic disaster, not a serious safety issue.
Still, the dubious cost-cutting decision — with the resulting expensive fix down the road — comes to light in the wake of two much more serious civic-project embarrassments.
In the fall of 2015, it was revealed multimillion-dollar repairs had to be made to the city’s $21-million four-pad arena, which had opened 10 years previously. The concrete pads were buckling because of a faulty underfloor heating system.
And early this summer, ceiling tiles with lights fixtures fell at St. Catharines’ five-year-old aquatic centre. The pool has been closed all summer and won’t reopen until the fall after $100,000 worth of repairs have been made.
We are told that in both instances the city is investigating what went wrong, with an eye towards seeking compensation if fault by an outside party is believed to have occurred.
City council first sought answers to the four-pad mess in late 2015. This investigation is taking so long I’m beginning to think they’re also trying to figure out whether Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.
Staff have already completed the aquatic centre probe and concluded a cable holding the suspended tiles wasn’t fastened tight enough. An attempt to assign fault for the error is ongoing.
Here’s hoping answers are forthcoming, and they’ll be made public at the appropriate time.
It was also encouraging to read what Mayor Walter Sendzik has said about the arena and pool messups.
Specifically, he noted a review of the city’s procurement process provides the municipality an opportunity to examine ways of balancing quality with affordability.
When tenders go out, he said the discussion should include bids that may be higher but can demonstrate the product will last longer.
“If our only focus is to get the cheapest product built, then we will pay for it eventually,” he said.
For proof, check out the bridge railings.