Editor's note: The section involving the "recruitment challenges" in the City of North Bay's Fleet Department has been clarified.
The City of North Bay is seeking bids for winter maintenance on two of its farthest-flung snowplow routes and is requesting quotations from interested parties.
"Due to ongoing recruitment challenges, the City has found it necessary to contract two rural snow plowing routes — the Four Mile Lake Road and Peninsula Road areas — for the upcoming season in order to maintain our current level of snow removal service," confirms Gord Young, the City's communications officer.
The RFQ was issued on Sept. 23, bidding is closed on Oct. 11, and the contract is tentatively scheduled to be awarded on Oct. 25. The tender documents include several conditions of the award of the contract, among them proof of insurance, WSIB certification, performance expectations, employee credentials, and maintenance standards.
"Our top priority is ensuring residents do not experience a reduction in the quality of street clearing and winter road safety," Young adds. "The City does work regularly with contractors for parking lot plowing and other snow removal operations."
It is not a lack of equipment that spurred this move, as the City recently opened another contest to name a snowplow, but rather a lack of qualified skilled workers, especially in the Fleet (as part of Public Works, Environmental Services and Parks) department. The "recruitment challenges" are a direct result of what is known as "gapping," whereby the employer leaves positions unfilled due to few or no applicants. Skilled trades, such as mechanical specialists, are in high demand. The turnover can be high in these essential roles as municipalities spend hours training staff and then struggle to retain those apprentices when more lucrative offers of employment come from the private sector, such as mining companies.
Human Resources and the union conferred on the proposed RFQ to ensure it did not circumvent the collective agreement. City officials are intent on maintaining service levels while approaching a break-even financial situation thanks to the personnel gapping and savings in fuel and maintenance costs and work hours.
The winning bidder will take full responsibility for the Peninsula and Four Mile Lake routes and will report to the City of North Bay.
From the tender documents; "The successful respondent(s) would be responsible for ensuring compliance is met with O. Reg. 239/02: MINIMUM MAINTENANCE STANDARDS FOR MUNICIPAL HIGHWAYS on a 24-hour basis, seven-day per week basis or when required by the Contract Administrator. All operations shall commence within the defined response time for Plowing and or Sanding.
"All resources including personnel, equipment, abrasives and weather monitoring equipment must be supplied by the successful contractor(s)."
Stipulations in the contract state the operators shall have a minimum of one season of experience in plowing municipal and/or provincial roads and the successful contractor shall properly train the operators before any plowing operations commence through a winter control school. Proof of training documents must be provided.
The City of North Bay may also "review the competence of any operator to perform the tendered work or associated activities. This may entail testing on the operation of any equipment that the person may be required to operate, a review of driving skills, written and eye examinations."
