Pothole planning time is now

Potholes are here

It is pothole season thanks to the freeze/thaw cycle. Last winter, one of the few times Mayor Robert Restaino didn’t get his way was when the council was asked to approve DPW overtime.

The idea was to see what was more efficient and effective over time, DPW crews doing hot patch or the Pothole Killer, an automated machine from Pennsylvania.

Councilmembers, led by Brian Archie, argued the OT was excessive and the work should be done on regular time. The idea was to take half the planned Pothole Killer funding and give it to hourly employees. The message was lost in the translation. No one from the administration was present to explain the plan and the window for the experiment was narrow, meaning waiting two weeks for approval would push crews into the spring work season.

Hence the experiment sort of didn’t happen. Crews missed out on a chance for OT and we missed out on a chance to see if the Pothole Killer is really better than doing it the old-fashioned. Let’s hope the newly formed council approaches the mayor on the topic now or the Mayor and DPW superintendent are ahead of the curve for the coming repair season because the idea was good a year ago but poorly presented by an administration afraid to enter the council chambers. Maybe it could be talked about at a work session.

Archie was the swing vote then and still is but now he is council chairperson. The DPW, using OT, had crews hot patch Pine Avenue and Porter Road. Both have held up way better than the temporary patches the Pothole Killer offers. Let's hope the council and mayor find a middle ground this time around.