Keene reports 682 maintenance tasks completed during eight-week pilot; council accepts report as informational

City public works staff told the Municipal Services, Facilities & Infrastructure Committee that a pilot program of concentrated maintenance across wards produced a notable uptick in neighborhood requests and service delivery.

Don, the city’s public works director, said the program was advertised starting Oct. 16 and over eight weeks the city received 184 SeeClickFix requests. Staff completed 682 individual tasks during that concentrated effort, including cleaning 101 sewer mains, painting 286 hydrants, trimming trees at 99 locations, crack-sealing 12 streets, repairing sidewalks at 13 locations and patching 29 streets. Don estimated the concentrated effort represented about $109,000 in labor, equipment and material value and roughly 2,500 labor hours.

Committee members praised the cross-departmental effort and community outreach, saying residents were engaged and departments such as planning, public works and the fire department participated in neighborhood events and response efforts. One councilor noted that older residents who are less comfortable online should have additional non-digital reporting options; staff said residents can still call Public Works for assistance and an administrator will enter reports into the work-order system.

A motion to accept the staff report as informational was made and seconded and carried unanimously. The acceptance records the committee’s review but imposes no new policy or budget changes.

Next steps: staff will consider adjustments to outreach for non-internet users and evaluate whether to run the program again based on the pilot metrics.