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Municipal Development: crack-sealing crews face 1,000-case backlog; contractors and hires planned
Summary
The Department of Municipal Development told the council it manages 4,600 lane miles of streets and is working through a crack-sealing backlog of roughly 1,000 requests. Director Jennifer Turner said crews can seal about one mile per day when fully staffed, the department is three positions short, and the city paid contractors roughly $1.4 million
Jennifer Turner, director of the Department of Municipal Development (DMD), gave the City Council a detailed update on the city’s crack-sealing program and street preservation efforts.
Turner said DMD is responsible for more than 4,600 lane miles of road and that the department sees two distinct crack types: smaller, age-related cracks and larger, thermal cracks. Crack sealing is a preventive treatment meant to delay more costly repairs such as mill-and-overlay. Turner described the city’s equipment and personnel: the department owns multiple specialized kettles and, when fully staffed, has 10 blue-collar employees plus a supervisor. Currently seven of those positions are filled.
Turner gave these fiscal and operational figures: about $650,000 per year is spent on crack-sealing material; blue-collar salaries for the program total roughly $667,000 when positions are filled; the city spent approximately $1.4 million paying outside contractors last year to supplement work. DMD reported an incoming workload of roughly 60 crack-sealing requests per day and a backlog of about 1,000 cases.
To address the backlog, Turner said DMD is using overtime, reassigning crews and rostering a contractor under a purchase order; she estimated that with supplemental resources the backlog could be reduced in three to six months depending on incoming new requests. On prioritization, Turner said the department generally follows a first-in, first-out queue but moves urgent safety calls to the head of the list.
Councilors pressed on several points. Councilor Lewis asked how the city decides when a road requires full mill-and-overlay rather than crack sealing; Turner said the city hires a pavement assessment contractor every 4–5 years to rate each street and that very degraded locations are patched or planned for rehabilitation. Councilor Rogers asked whether the contractor is being charged for materials; Turner said the $1.4 million contractor contract includes materials and labor. Councilor Grout and others urged filling vacant positions; Turner said she expects to complete selections and have crews at full strength by the end of the year.
Turner named the primary contractor the city has used for supplemental crack sealing as Dismuke. Councilors and staff also noted that the city funds two crack-sealing positions through the quarter-cent streets (transportation) tax; DMD said it will provide an updated breakdown of trans-tax expenditures as part of an annual report.
Turner closed by thanking street crews and noting that winter and cooler months are often a good season for sealing projects. "When fully staffed, crews can crack seal one mile a day," Turner said.
