Province yet to respond on city’s mowing proposal

Following a council member’s push over the summer to develop a long-term agreement to mow provincial boulevards, the Manitoba government has not said what position it has on the proposal, council was told on Monday.

Coun. Jason Splett (Ward 8) introduced the motion in August so the city could better prepare if the province wants to continue contracting the city to mow provincial boulevards in Brandon such as 18th Street, First Street and Victoria Avenue.

“As of the middle of September, MTI (Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure) advised that they have not yet established a position on the proposed multi-year agreement,” the city’s general manager of operations, Todd Burton, said during Monday’s meeting. “Administration will continue to pursue the matter with MTI at the appropriate levels in an effort to obtain direction regarding the province’s willingness to enter into a longer-term agreement.”

Burton said a longer-term agreement would allow the city to better prepare staff and equipment, and ensure streets are being cared for appropriately.

Burton gave council the update because that had been a request during the initial proposal, he said.

Splett in August said a long-term agreement would prevent “last-minute” decisions being made about mowing, and that the short-term agreement for 2026 was ratified late.

His proposal is for the city to sign a three- or five-year term with the province.

“I think it’s a great thing that we were talking about it in September and October versus middle of June for the grass cutting,” Splett said on Tuesday. “I’m hoping that before we get into budget deliberations that we can get a deal in place with them for a long term, so that before we go into budget deliberations, council can decide if we need to add more equipment or more personnel or anything like that.”

In the past, awarding the contract later in the season has “handcuffed” the city, he said.

The agreement could come with a built-in “escalator,” Splett said, so that the finances of the agreement keep up with the rate of municipal inflation.

Coun. Bruce Luebke during the meeting questioned why the city is pursing the plan if MTI is not currently interested.

“It would free up our staff to do all the things that we should be responsible for,” the Ward 6 councillor said, adding the province can hire a third-party contractor if it isn’t interested in the city doing the work under a multi-year arrangement.

Mayor Jeff Fawcett said the city is working with the province, noting that the discussions typically happen internally and not in front of the public, where MTI cannot respond.

“MTI does work very well with the City of Brandon, we’ve got a great long-term relationship with them,” he said. “We realize that they don’t do this work with any other cities, so we are potentially at risk by publicly talking (about) it rather than just talking with them.”

Splett on Tuesday said he doesn’t disagree with the “great comments” from Luebke and Fawcett, and he would be OK if the province wanted to hire a third-party instead.

“They need to put some planning in place to get that figured out and not come at the last minute to the city to keep it up. So just it’s a whole process in just pre-planning activities,” Splett said.

“I would not be opposed to the province saying that they’re going to go with the third party on this, because then at least we know somebody’s going to be looking after it,” he added.

The report was received as information by council.

During Monday’s meeting, council also asked administration to review the possibility of a lifetime pet licence option, instead of a two-year licence.

A city staff member said administration will do what it can to review a lifetime licence and get the topic back to council at its Oct. 19 meeting, the last one before the Oct. 28 municipal election.

» alambert@brandonsun.com