The Town of Huntsville has a new manager of operations—responsible for roads and fleet—and he’s eager to build on some of the proactive measures being put in place to improve Huntsville’s road network.
Lee Ripenburg started his new role earlier this month after 32 years with the Town of Lincoln in the Niagara Region. There he was most recently in a similar position as the manager of roads and fleet and brings that experience, along with a passion for sharing knowledge on rural road maintenance, to the Town of Huntsville.
The two municipalities have a similar population and road network size—Lincoln’s a bit smaller at about 350 kilometres compared to Huntsville’s 412 kilometres—but there are major differences, too. Lincoln has no gravel roads, a measure taken in the 1990s thanks to provincial funding available at the time in order to protect the region’s tender fruit crops from the dust. That area’s roads also mostly follow a grid pattern. “I’ve heard that to get somewhere here, you go nowhere,” he laughs. “You’re always driving around lakes to get somewhere.”
Seeing how those formerly gravel roads in Lincoln deteriorated over time really drove home the concept of pavement preservation for Ripenburg. “Unfortunately the problem was, and to nobody being blamed, we didn’t get into a good program of resealing roads and building those roads properly when they were originally hard topped. We didn’t build up any of the road bases really well. So what happened is we got into a bad state of affairs.” By the time he became Lincoln’s roads and fleet manager in 2010, he really understood the importance of “trying to preserve the roads that are in fairly good condition, but don’t forget about the bad ones. You’re always going to have bad roads that you have to reconstruct and rehabilitate, but if you can get into some type of pavement preservation strategy then you will gain on your road network’s overall condition rating.”
Arriving in Huntsville, he was pleased to see that there was already support and commitment from council and staff to improve on road preservation work.
“I see a good condition rating overall, but I definitely would like to propose some changes in the way we do some of this road preservation,” says Ripenburg. “I think a lot of municipalities struggle with that, a lot of these general maintenance programs get pushed by the wayside and then things start to happen, people get flooded out, culverts get plugged, so there’s a lot of things we can do on a regular basis that will help our road network.” Ripenburg is also a trainer with Ground Force Training and it’s part of what he teaches other municipalities about maintaining their rural roads.
He says that removing brush from roadsides so that roads are better able to dry out in the spring, and improving ditching for better drainage are proactive steps that will help to maintain the condition of rural roads in particular.
Ripenburg notes that the Town has begun incorporating ditching work into its road rehabilitations, “but we need to be more proactive on roads outside of the capital roads that are being done in a specific year. That will really help. It’s something I want us to be more mindful of and get into more proactive programs.”
He’ll also be speaking to councillors at tomorrow’s General Committee meeting to request funds to purchase a hot box which will improve the roads crew’s ability to patch roads that aren’t in the year’s schedule to be rehabilitated. The hot box heats up the cold mix material that’s put in pot holes so that it bonds better. “It’s just one of the tools that’s good to have for preserving roads,” says Ripenburg. “We are going to keep a good eye on assessing the roads… The guys are very diligent here, doing what they can, and we’ll keep patching.”
Ripenburg notes that the Town’s 10-year capital plan for road work is somewhat fluid, with roads that are deteriorating faster sometimes needing to be moved up in the schedule. But he says that communication is important and he wants to be able to better inform residents about what the roads department does and what’s in the works.
As for the Town’s fleet, Ripenburg says that overall the equipment is in good shape. They’ll be purchasing a new tandem axle truck this year and are keeping an eye on the lifecycles of the rest of the equipment.
“I’m just looking to help the Town where I can, I’m not one who moves around a lot,” says Ripenburg, who has lived most of his life in Beamsville. He’s commuting back there on weekends at the moment while he searches for property, and his wife and four children, ages 13 to 22, will join him soon. He says they are outdoors people and are looking forward to the lifestyle Muskoka offers.
“I’m looking to stay here as long as I can and where changes need to be made I hope I can help with those,” says Ripenburg, adding that both staff and council have been very welcoming. “I hope to have a good working environment here, making sure that we’re all working as a team and helping each other out.”
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Welcome Lee, I’m sure you and your family will fit right in, in no time!