By John Mutton
Today I write my column on another day where it's too cold for the road salt to work. Going from the bitter cold to what seemed like a balmy 12 degrees back to minus 30 degree weather will take a toll on roads and much of our concrete and asphalt infrastructure.
I am still amazed that in Durham, we have not been able to coordinate our local Municipal snow plows with the Regional snowplows so we don't have snow plows lifting blades or not dropping salt because they are simply on a local vs regional road or regional vs local road. That is the essence of duplication.
In Oshawa the Region and the City are trying to negotiate having some Regional Roads like Park St return to being the property and responsibility of the City vs the Region. Why has this never happened? Quite bluntly, the City do not want the ongoing maintenance and capital costs of the road. As long as this is something that needs agreement, I doubt it will ever happen. Where residents should be concerned is that if a road should not be a regional road, why should residents of Pickering, Ajax, Uxbridge, Scugog, Clarington and Whitby pay for a local road in Oshawa. It would work the same if the issue where in any of Durham's 8 municipalities.
I know duplication exists and I know common sense is sometimes rare when it comes to parochialism. I guarantee this will not exist when looking after the taxpayers of Durham if I have anything to do with it. It has been said many times, there is only one taxpayer.
Till next week...
John Mutton
President and CEO
Municipal Solutions - Energy and Infrastructure
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