City Gets Road Line Painters to Reduce The Bill
Prince George, B.C.- “When I looked at some of the line painting this year, I just thought , God, I was embarrassed, and I thought, how could that happen?” That was the first comment from Councillor Brian Skakun as Council reviewed the most recent road line painting process for Prince George.
The line painting this year, sparked much criticism as lines were , well, wonky is the word that comes to mind.
The City said the lines, as miss-matched and wriggly as they may be, did not pose a safety hazard so the work was not going to be redone but the contractor won’t be back next year. Acting Director of Operations, Gina Layte-Liston says City staff has “taken the appropriate steps to terminate the contract with the contractor, The City and the contractor have agreed to a reasonable reduction which the City is satisfied with.” That reduction is 15% which amounts to about $15 thousand dollars.
The contract was originally worth $105 thousand.
The contract was to be two years plus one optional year.
Years ago, the City crews did the line painting. That was changed and the job was put out to tender, with the lowest bidder getting the job. “Spending the least amount of money on the lowest bidder, obviously in this case we did not get the best bang for our buck” said Skakun.
The paint will not last as long as it used to because new regulations require a water based paint be used instead of the old style. Also, because the paint is now water based, the daily temperature must be above 10 degrees for the whole day during the application process, and there can’ be any rain for 48 hours before or after the paint is applied .
Comments
It is nice to see the city hold a contractor to account, too bad they didn’t do the same thing for road paving when in some cases recently paved roads were suffering from failures of the asphalt to adhere to the old asphalt leading to failures far earlier than would be expected of new pavement.
Sounds like contracting out didnt end up paying off…wierd.
the joys of using the lowest bidder ….
I wonder if the operators of the painting machine were ever drug or alcohol tested?
“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.”
Benjamin Franklin
I have a poster hanging on the wall of my office desk…
“There will always be somebody who says they can do it cheaper…. but at what cost?”
New regs. require water based paint…How stupid. Fast dry industrial enamel gets the best bang for your buck. So a committee made of $100 thou a year government employees who ride bikes to work make changes like this.
city should have a scavenger hunt: find ten intersections that were repainted that AREN’T completely messed up LOL
15% for the mess those clowns made, smh, should have been closer to 30%.
Hartly 2, Brother Gecko: 100% correct and my dad always said to remember that it usually winds up costing you too much to go with the low bid.
Does anyone know what it used to cost the City for line painting back when it was done “in house”? I know we didnt have to wait until summer to start getting road lines again. Thanks to the new paint, road lines only last until winter and then there is nothing left until repainting begins the following year. Many times the process is at the mercy of contractor availability.
As for awarding contracts to the lowest bidder, you get what you pay for. Years ago City contracts stated that the “lowest bidder would not necessarily be awarded the contract”, which inplied that quality contractors did in fact mean something. Most corporate contracts have quality assurance clauses written in, does this apply to City of P.G contracts? or do we let them go until the public outcry forces those in power to take action. We pay so much in taxes, best make certain we are getting quality work.
Long ago I realized that quality work requires quality payment. You dont pay $3 for a fast food burger and then cry about it not being mouthwatering and delicious do you? Those crooked lines will disappear, but let it be a funny reminder that “cheap work produces cheap results”. BTW City officials.. who is responsible for checking out contractor’s references and quality of work?.That person needs a reprimand, as these line painters made it to every end of town with their shoddy work. Action was only taken after public outcry.
What’s the reason for the new regulations? Environmental problems with the solvent?
Comments for this article are closed.