Final year for street-sweeping contract

With hopes that the third time will be the charm, the city’s troubled street-sweeping operations are underway, as crews fan out to sweep away a winter’s worth of sand and salt.

The effort has been plagued with problems since the city signed a three-year deal with an American-based company, DeAngelo Brothers, in 2011 to head up the city’s annual street-sweeping program. The city received several complaints in 2011, and a staff report found the contractor “arrived in the city with insufficient equipment to complete the contract within the designated timeline.” 

And last year, the city received more complaints, and sweeping continued well past the deadline of the end of May. Ward 2 Coun. Jacques Barbeau said at the time that a city news release claiming everything was fine was not accurate.

“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.”

This is the final year of the DeAngelo Brothers contract. Tony Cecutti, the city’s general manager of infrastructure services, said in the release that they have been working with the company to ensure operations go smoothly this year.

“We continue to work with DeAngelo Brothers Inc. to improve work procedures,” Cecutti said in the release.

“They’ve brought in new equipment to increase productivity and have secured experienced subcontractors that, once fully deployed, will allow them to sweep an average of 31 curb kilometres per day. Those are great strides from previous years.”

The city’s annual budget for spring cleanup is around $850,000, which includes street-sweeping operations. City crews have already started sweeping sidewalks, medians and streets throughout the downtown core.

Business centres and the Sudbury Rocks Marathon route are areas of high priority. Once those areas are clear, crews will continue on to other parts of the city.

Historically, street sweeping is completed by the end of May. An update on street sweeping will be presented at the operations committee meeting on April 15.

Anyone with questions about street sweeping or other road maintenance can call 311.