A divided Niagara Falls City Council has rejected plans to attack the city’s pothole problems with a combination of the return of the “Pothole Killer” and overtime for the Department of Public Works road crew.
But city officials say the rejection of that plan will mean pothole repairs will not be completed when the DPW road crew shifts to street repair in the coming weeks.
Council members deadlocked on a 2-2 vote on a request from Mayor Robert Restaino to contract with Patch Management Inc. to provide the services of its Pothole Killer truck, an operator and 100 tons of asphalt patch, to address what was described as “the fight against potholes.” The mayor said the cost of the services would be $99,600.
That money would be taken from the city’s Tribal Revenue reserves.
Included in the Pothole Killer plan was a request from the mayor to also use $100,870 in tribal reserves to fund 84 hours of overtime (four hours per day for 21 days) to have the city’s DPW road crew “supplement the efforts of the Pothole Killer.” The road crew would perform hot asphalt patching work, which is considered a higher quality pothole repair than the Pothole Killer’s spray injection method.
That brought objections from Council Members Donta Myles (D) and Brian Archie (D) who suggested that meant the city was “paying twice” for the same repairs.
“I don’t understand why we’re paying extra for pothole work alongside this device. I’m not against filling holes. I’m against paying twice for this work,” Archie said. “I’m against preemptively paying overtime.”
Myles said he didn’t see a need “for extra overtime as well.”
But both council members said they were supportive of addressing the city’s pothole problems.
Council Chair James Perry (D) and Member Traci Bax (R) both voted in favor of the pothole plan. Member David Zajac (R) was excused from the council meeting to deal with a family matter.
Restaino said the failure of the council to approve the plan will mean that the city will not be able to repair a large number of its potholes because the DPW road crew will soon be diverted to large-scale road repair projects. Plans call for the city to conduct milling and repaving on between 20 to 25 streets during the spring-summer-fall construction season.
“It’s the same crew doing both (road repairs and potholes),” Restaino said. “We’re going to have to go back to road repairs once the road construction season starts. We only have one (DPW) street crew. Once they’re working on roads, it’s over for potholes.”
The mayor’s explanation failed to sway Archie.
“Not really,” he said. “If we’re utilizing the pothole killer and it’s not up to par, why use it? I just don’t agree this is the way to do it.”
Restaino said he may reintroduce the request at the next council meeting.
“I will talk with the council chair next Tuesday, as I always do, and we’ll see what he suggests,” the mayor said.