Badcock asks staff to hurry it up a bit

By Mark Squibb/March 3, 2023

Bay Roberts Councillor Silas Badcock told other members of council during last week’s meeting that a lot of calls he receives from residents are complaints about how long it takes the town to get things done.

Badcock said he’s not impressed either with how long it sometimes takes for tasks on the Town’s action list to be accomplished.

He noted that one item, a block of sidewalk up near the highway damaged years backs (councillor Dean Franey added that it was damaged ‘pre-COVID’) still hasn’t been fixed.

“And the list goes on and on,” said Badcock. “And I’m only one councillor. I’m sure our staff and everybody (on council) are getting these calls, and I’m just wondering if there’s something we could put in place to speed this stuff up.”

Town CAO Nigel Black noted that as a lot of work is slated for the spring, there will unfortunately be little progress made during the winter months.

“In terms of answering, ‘Why it takes so long?’ well, it depends,” said Black. “Sometimes there are good reasons, sometimes there aren’t, and sometimes there are things that are out of our control. But at the end of the day there’s a list there of things that should be getting done, so that’s the message that will go to the directors.”

Mayor Walter Yetman gave a cursory glance at the list, noting some items go as far back as 2021 and 2020.

He said a better effort needs to be made.

Councillor Perry Bowering suggested more communication between department directors and members of council.

“After six months, if something isn’t done, give us a good reason why it’s not done,” said Bowering. “If you’re still waiting on a part, that’s a good reason. If you never got to it, that’s not a good reason.”

CAO Black said he would bring the concerns to the department heads.