To the Editor,

The following is an open letter to the councillors who decide on road repairs:
1: Please, don’t overfill potholes during repairs.
Unfortunately, road staff consistently overfill potholes with the result that dips become bumps. Bumps are unpleasant and hard on vehicles. From a safety viewpoint, bumps slow down fire and ambulance emergency vehicles. As well, avoidance of bumps on curves can cause accidents. Overfilling also wastes materials and tax dollars. Whether through instruction/supervision and followup, or new methods/machinery, please ensure road staff fill potholes to leave behind a level surface.

2: Improve life expectancy of road resurfacing.
Our road, Soyers Lake Road, was regraded and resurfaced not long ago with such poor workmanship/materials/standards that it needs to be redone. The engineering report presented to Township of Minden Hills council [on Jan. 27] agreed that deterioration was severe enough to need resurfacing. In my experience the lowest quality, least expensive solution is often the most expensive. I would ask that council ask the engineers who presented the report to offer cost effective suggestions regarding materials/quality control (in construction and maintenance), and expectations for longevity so that we could get long term guarantees from contractors that will do the work. Your job is a difficult one. I thank you for your consideration.

Paul Zalan, MD
Minden