New-look county council gets primer
Session offers a look at roads, bridges and other concerns
Peterborough County has 127 bridges, 16 of which are in such poor shape they can’t take large vehicles such as a snowplow, county councillors heard on Wednesday.
Some of those 16 bridges have had load limitations since the 1980s, said Doug Saccoccia, assistant manager of engineering for the county.
He said it means large vehicles must find an alternate route instead of using bridges such as Peter’s Island Bridge, north of Bobcaygeon, which recently had steel repairs but still has a five-tonne limit (pending inspection of the repairs).
“That has an impact on service,” Saccoccia told county councillors.
The newly elected county council, made up of mayors and deputy mayors from the county’s eight townships, hasn’t been sworn in yet. That happens on Dec. 12.
On Wednesday, council, with several new faces, gathered at the county courthouse for an informal, three-hour session to learn more from staff and outside consultants about county assets.
They heard county staff is expecting the latest engineer’s inspection reports on all 127 bridges (which is done every other year) later this week.
County treasurer Trena DeBruijn said once staff has the latest bridge inspections, staff will report back to council at a further orientation session on Jan. 16.
DeBruijn said it’s all part of the development of a new 10-year assetmanagement plan, which she expects to present to council on Feb. 6.
A county staff report states that it would cost $973 million to replace all county assets – including roads, bridges, culverts and vehicles such as ambulances, loaders and snowplows.
Architect Ron Awde, who runs a private practice in Bethany, spoke to councillors about the county’s inventory of 32 buildings.
The largest building is the county courthouse, he said, but the county also owns ambulance bases, storage
garages and sand domes, for instance.
Awde said the county courthouse – which was built in 1850, with many additions and renovations over the years – is in “fairly good condition”.
But its condition could “slip down to poor” if county council doesn’t invest in repairs over the next five years, he said.
For instance, Awde said some of the courthouse’s load-bearing masonry is “fairly fragile” and needs attention.
“The building’s needs are great,” he said.
There are also 709 km of roads in Peterborough County to maintain.
County assistant manager of engineering Dan Sutherland said it would cost $744 million to replace the entire road network.
He also told councillors the county owns and maintains 106 vehicles, including 15 snowplow trucks and 23 ambulances – and that from time to time, those vehicles can break down or not serve as long as staff would like.
Replacement can be pricey: Sutherland told councillors the average cost of a new ambulance is $153,000, for instance, and a new tandem snowplow costs about $275,000.
Warden Joe Taylor was presiding over his last meeting Wednesday before DouroDummer Mayor J. Murray Jones returns to the warden’s job on Dec. 12.
He told councillors that it can be “overwhelming” to look at all the assets together. The county doesn’t have the means to replace its every asset, Taylor said, and never will.
“So try not to walk out of here feeling too horrible,” he said.
County council will be sworn in at the county courthouse on Dec. 12 at 2 p.m