By Meg Peters
Review Co-Editor
The Lake Orion Village Council approved asphalt repairs for four sections of road within the village boundaries Monday night.
Council approved Village Department of Public Works Director Jeremy Richert’s recommendation to award Pavex Paving & Excavation of Trenton the bid to make repairs at 332 Heights, 200 Brittain, 302 Bellevue, and 238 Lake St. for a total of $38,675.
The four different road repairs are a compilation of patches for one 23’x32? section (332 Heights); one 38’x18? section (200 Brittain); one 23’x10? (302 Bellevue); and one 17’x25? section (238 Lake St.). Richert said these repairs should have been made weeks ago, and residents have been calling every day with complaints.
All road breaks were due to water main breaks, Richert reported.
Costs include labor, materials, traffic control and in some cases Oakland County oversight if the roadway is a county road. Funds will be extracted from the water and sewer fund balance, which has about $1.9 million available for village use, according to Village Manager Darwin McClary.
Initially Richert had recommended contracting Pavex Paving & Excavation for two additional locations, 154 Heights and 21 S. Broadway, for a total of $47,215. The DPW department will tackle another 15 to 20 smaller repairs this summer as time allows, however, Richert felt these larger projects needed a larger company to handle them due to time constraints and lack of adequate equipment. Richert expects to begin repairs July 13.
‘One ton of asphalt will cover 90 square feet at 2.5 inches, so when I was calculating the cost, the high figures and amount of materials seemed crazy,? President Pro-Tem John Ranville said, the only opposing vote for recommendation.
Council member Christian Mills echoed similar financial concerns.
‘My gut reaction on this is we are kind of in emergency mode. It’s a pressure point, and I know these guys know that, but really the cost always surprises me,? he said. ‘In the future we need to figure out how to do this in house’lease a roller, pay them double time, and save $25,000.?
Mills suggested in the future to look into establishing partnerships with local municipalities.
Richert explained that the Village of Oxford DPW employees’who Lake Orion has worked with numerous times’are in a similar position.
‘On top of being understaffed, a bigger issue is outdated equipment that continues to fail and repair cost that continues to rise. Not to mention even if we were fully staffed, the work that cannot be completed in a timely manner when equipment is down so often,? he said.
Richert said he has already put in 180 hours of overtime this year overseeing his staff of four. He will soon be training one more man in the next couple weeks.
One of the machines currently down is the roller, which has been down since previous DPW Director Jeff Sears was in office, also one of the reasons some of the projects needed to be contracted out, he said.
‘It’s not easy to keep things running when they are so old,? he said.
Village President Ken Van Portfliet said he is continually surprised to learn when village machinery does not function properly.
‘Can we get a list? It’s incumbent upon us to make sure we can provide to get the job done, right down to the chainsaw or lawnmower, and let’s see what we can do.
Richert said he has been creating an ongoing list containing at least four to six pieces of equipment needing costly repairs. Village Manager Darwin McClary said council needs to set up a special meeting to address equipment needs and the rising water and sewer costs.