Isolating trouble spots, issues with plow trucks

County of Barrhead public works assistant supt. Ken Hove says the municipality is down to one plow truck for the next few weeks.

“One of the trucks that we use as a snowplow truck had to go to Edmonton for some engine warranty work,” he told councillors at their Nov. 1 meeting.

“It needs a new head, liners and maybe new injectors too. The parts are roughly a week away and the labour is going to take between 50-80 hours so they [Edmonton] said not to expect it back until the third week of November. We’ll be a bit slower getting rid of that stuff but we can always take care of snow with our graders.”

However, Hove said the county’s other truck is having similar issues.

“The first truck was showing coolant in its engine oil and while the other one isn’t showing the exact same signs, as our mechanics are saying, it also has to go in for repairs when we get the first one back. That way we aren’t left without any plow trucks. Hopefully the problems are solved.”

Hove said the engines of both trucks are relatively new.

“They are both International trucks. Maybe it is an issue with upgrades, I don’t know.”

With regards to road damage on Shoal Creek Road highlighted by Coun. Darrell Troock, at a meeting Oct. 18, Hove said the department is trying to make repairs.

“It is difficult in some areas without making more damage with our own vehicles. You’ve got to pick and choose where you can go to fix some of these spots.”

Councillors Bill Lane and Marvin Schatz said they had received numerous calls.

“My phone has been ringing a lot more than it has over the past three years,” Schatz said, adding he thought it would be harder to make the necessary repairs come winter.

Lane agreed.

“I’ve had a few calls myself, not the nicest, but I explained to them that with all of the bad weather we’ve been having it is hard to get on top of the road condition issues,” he said, adding most people understand the situation.

Reeve Doug Drozd said calls such as those Schatz and Lane had received helped to identify trouble spots.

“Logic would dictate some of these problems would be in low spots where the surface would be really soft, but sometimes you could be driving up a hill where there are no trees on either side of the road and the top is just as soft. Public works is aware of these ongoing issues and so are the grader operators.”