WHITEWATER REGION TOWNSHIP — Patience is what’s required right now when people drive around and check out various roads in Whitewater Region Township.
There have been a few complaints about how some of the roadsides look after the brush head was used to clean out the ditches.
If you drive around, there are some areas where trees appear to have been cut haphazardly, making certain areas look like someone wasn’t too sure what they were doing.
Public works manager Bill Misener said the work is not yet complete.
“We are waiting on locates,” he said. “We have to make sure there are no wires in the ground.”
Once the locates are done, public works employees will go through and dig out the stumps so the trees won’t grow back, he explained. For those trees that are being used to hold up fences, Mr. Misener said they will be trimmed up to look nice.
When the ditching is complete, the trees should not grow back, he added.
“It will look nice,” he said.
Until it’s properly cleaned up, Mr. Misener said, “It will look horrible.”
In the places where it won’t be stumped, it will only look bad for a month before the grasses begin to grow back, he explained.
As for the trees where the branches were sheared off, he noted the branches grow back.
The brush head is about a year old and cost the township $53,000, which included installation.
While Mayor Hal Johnson has received complaints about how some of the roadsides look, Mr. Misener said people are stopping and thanking him for the work the crew is doing. They now have a good line of site and the brush is not hanging out over the road, he added.
He noted Fletcher Road is a good example of how cleaning the ditches of brush and trees is beneficial. The end of Fletcher Road at Beachburg Road is wet and pot-holey while the Government Road end is not.
“It’s dusty, but it’s not wet,” he said.
While there is a world-class kayaking event happening on the Ottawa River in the township between Beachburg and Foresters Falls near summer’s end, Mr. Misener said if the brushing and ditching is done early enough, it should look fine by the time the event arrives.
The brush head is currently going through routine maintenance, but will soon be back at work. It’s a machine that can be used year-round as time permits, Mr. Misener said.
The public works employees, along with brushing and ditching, are now changing culverts and doing road construction.
Mayor Hal Johnson isn’t pleased with what he’s seeing and neither are those residents who have called him.
He agreed that if the ditching and brushing isn’t done, the brush will take over the roads and ditches.
He said he wants to talk to Mr. Misener and find out what’s going on.
Not only is the machine leaving behind devastation, but it’s tossing trash onto the road, he added.
Mayor Johnson understands this is a new machine for the public works crews and it will take some time getting used to it.
He’s hopeful by the time the world kayaking event is to take place in the township, the decimated areas won’t look so decimated.
