With a final budget now in place for 2008, the public works committee has begun the task of assessing what infrastructure projects will make it to the top of the list this year.

At the committee meeting held April 24, director of public works Peter Brown presented a report to the committee outlining the department’s suggestions for spending the $1.1 million roads and bridges grant recently received from the provincial government.

One area Brown identified as needing immediate investment was the town’s bridges and culverts.

“The Town of Huntsville requires significant injection of capital to institute repairs (and/or) replacement of this type of infrastructure,” Brown said in his report.

At the top of the list are two box culverts on Lone Pine Drive. Brown told committee these culverts were assessed by TSH Engineering last year and it was recommended that they be replaced immediately.

“They’re way beyond their lifespan,” he said.

He also noted that the Ministry of Transportation has identified Lone Pine Drive as being a road they will upgrade as part of their interchange project on Hwy. 11, but added that if it is not scheduled to happen for a few years, the culverts should be replaced ahead of time.

In his report, Brown also suggested the money could be used to boost the 2008 budget for high-floating roads, which is a road treatment similar to tar that creates an asphalt-like surface.

He also suggested specifically investing funds to complete roadwork on West Point Sands Road, Old Muskoka Road from Hwy. 141 to Clarkes Lane, Old Muskoka Road near Proudfoot Road, and Phase 1 of the Hanes Road project — originally scheduled to begin last year.

At the meeting, councillor Mike Greaves suggested that a better use of the funding would be to permanently fix areas or roadways that are a constant source of repair work for the public works department.

“I know about the box culverts and stuff like that but I don’t see them saving us any labour, and I see us at a point where we could really dig into the stuff that causes us time and energy and truck material to go out and do work. If we can get that upgraded then we could benefit in the long run,” he said.

Mayor Claude Doughty agreed with Greaves’ point, citing a hill on North Menominee Lake Road as an example.

“We take those high maintenance spots and do what we need to do so that we don’t keep getting pestered all summer long having to send the grater all the way heck and gone that far to deal with that issue,” he said.

Brown told committee that he did have an inventory of high maintenance areas in the town, but added, “We also have bridges and culverts we have to replace. . . . I appreciate what the suggestions for these particular areas are, but I guess my point is we have to be cognizant of what has been identified as a need or a requirement.”

He added that the province has informed him that there will be regulations on exactly what the municipality can spend the money on, but those won’t be made available until the end of May or early June.

Doughty suggested that the entire public works budget be brought back to the next committee meeting, in order for a priority list to be set for projects this year, including backup plans in case the provincial regulations impede some of the work from getting done.

“We need to see a full budget (and) how we’re going to deploy it,” he said.