Township requests first review of county roads in 25 years, prepares new maintenance agreement

Municipal building in background with red township van parked in front and more vehicles to left hand side.
The Odessa Municipal Office where Loyalist Township Council Meetings are held. Photo by Ted Evans.
Ted Evans - CJAI - StellaON | 14-06-2023
Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin
Share on pinterest
Share on email
Share on print

Loyalist Township will enact a new agreement this year with the County of Lennox and Addington on the construction and maintenance of county roads and bridges.

The Community and Customer Services Department, Public Works Division brought forward a motion at the June 12 council meeting that would authorize the mayor and chief administrative officer to carry out the new agreement with Lennox and Addington County. Staff have also requested that Lennox and Addington County conduct a new review of the county road network — the first since amalgamation in 1998.

Lennox and Addington County manages the maintenance and operational services of its roads and bridges through a contractual arrangement with Greater Napanee and the townships of Addington Highlands, Loyalist and Stone Mills.

This service arrangement was originally developed in the late 1990s. Since then, various versions of the agreement have been in place, with the most recent version being executed in 2020 for a period of three years.

An updated agreement for the construction and maintenance of county roads and bridges has been drafted and approved by the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), county treasurers and council. The new agreement would have some minor modifications recommended by the TAC to better reflect actual practices and true costs.

Lennox and Addington County currently does not provide any “on the road” services directly. Instead, operations and maintenance services are provided by the lower tier municipality in which the county road or bridge is located.

This includes services such as:

  • Winter maintenance, including snow plowing, sanding and culvert thawing;
  • Summer maintenance, including pothole patching, shoulder gravelling and grading, roadside grass cutting and brushing, debris and litter pick-up, street sweeping, traffic line painting;
  • Bridge cleaning, minor surface and concrete repairs, obstruction removals; and
  • Roadside ditch and storm sewer maintenance

The agreement has always included a base allocation rate per kilometer for the maintenance of county roads within the municipality. The annual base allocation rate has increased annually based on the Consumers Price Index in Ontario for the month of November of the previous year.

The base allocation rate for funds related to construction and maintenance of county roads and bridges for 2023 is $6,337.02 per kilometer. Loyalist Township currently has 98.4km of county roads within its borders; so for this year, the total funds would be $623,562.77.

Alex Scott, manager of Public Works, noted that any costs going above and beyond the funds per kilometer are accounted for at the end of the year.

"When we do the reconciliation at year-end, we do use our actual costs. So that would reflect the cost for the additional maintenance," said Scott.

Loyalist Township Council felt it would be beneficial if the review of the county road network were to also include an updated definition of what constitutes a county road.

The agreement does not include an end date, but with notice no later than June 30, it may be terminated on January 1 of the following year. The agreement may be revised at any time with the written consent of the parties.

Hear the story below: