‘Street sweeping is not fine’

The chair of Sudbury’s operations committee was not impressed by a city press release last week that said everything was on track with the city’s annual street-sweeping program.

Ward 2 Coun. Jacques Barbeau said he asked that a public service announcement be issued to let residents know what was really going on.

“It was not (supposed) to make it sound like all was well on the contractor end of things,” Barbeau said May 22, following a meeting of the finance committee. “In fact, the exact opposite is true.

“I think residents are entitled to know that, in fact, things did not go according to plan. This is not the type of service we paid to deliver.”

The PSA said everything was on track and on schedule with the street sweeping this year, refuting a media report that quoted Barbeau and Greg Clausen, the city’s general manager of infrastructure.

The story said the program was behind schedule and wouldn’t be complete by the end of May. But on May 16, the city released a PSA that said the work was, in fact, proceeding on schedule.

“The City of Greater Sudbury’s street-sweeping program will be complete by the Victoria Day weekend,” the release said.

An American-based company, DeAngelo Brothers, was awarded a three-year contract in 2011 to head up the city’s annual street sweeping program. The city received several complaints last year, and a staff report found the contractor “arrived in the city with insufficient equipment to complete the contract within the designated timeline.”

So last year, the city stepped in to help the contractor complete the work. This year, the contractor is sub-contracting some of the work to city crews.

Shannon Dowling, a media relations officer with the city, said information in the release is accurate.

“We can’t speak to what other media outlets are reporting,” Dowling said. “But what was written in the PSA is accurate.”

She also declined to comment on whether the city is content with the job the DeAngelo Brothers has done.

“Conversations between staff and the contractor would be internal ... We wouldn’t be discussing (publicly) what’s said between them,” she said.

Despite requests to speak with Clausen or other city staff, Dowling said the city was content to let the PSA speak for itself.

But Barbeau disputes that, saying he and others have heard complaints from residents across the city.

“The street sweeping is not fine,” he said. “Our own staff, who look after some of the residential rural areas, did an absolutely terrific job. But they had to come in and help the contractor.

“The contractor did not perform according to the contract ... To offer such a comment is completely wrong. That is not the case.”

DeAngelo Brothers has one year left on its three-year contract. Barbeau couldn’t say if the city would be able to cancel the remaining year.

The dust has yet to settle on whether the street-sweeping program met the May long weekend deadline. As of 4:15 p.m. on May 23, the city had yet to verify if the work was complete.

Posted by Arron Pickard