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Regina resident frustrated with delays in sidewalk repair caused by project backlog

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A Regina resident is expressing frustrations about a city repair project on his property that has been ongoing for the past year.

Paul Kleckner said the City of Regina updated the fire hydrant on his front lawn more than a year ago, leaving behind a torn up sidewalk, front yard and road.

He said he called to inquire about the status of this project plenty of times over the course of the year.

“They didn’t have the budget, they don’t have the man power, I phoned different departments and the line I hated the most was— I hate hearing this line— is, ‘there’s nothing we can do,’” he said.

On Saturday, concrete was finally poured on the side walk, but sodding of his lawn and filling in the road is still incomplete.

Kleckner said it only took a few hours for this work to be done, and wonders why a few hours work took over a year to complete.

Colin Midgley, manager of roadways and maintenance operations with the City of Regina, said there is a backlog given the environmental implications the province sees, and that they try to mitigate the priority problems first.

Midgley added that city council approved a budget of more than $10 million in the next two years for a safe sidewalk initiative.

“Our goal is to make sure that the city is accessible, inclusive and safe for everybody. With that additional money that was provided by council, specifically for safe sidewalks, we’ve been able to do additional work this season,” he said.

However, for someone like Kleckner, who has to use a scooter to get around due to a fall this past winter, it isn’t as easy as just going onto the road.

“Not just me but all my neighbours and whoever, there’s elderly people, there’s kids that go to school, right now I’ve got security cameras and people are using my lawn as their walkway,” he said.

Kleckner said that his property taxes rose by $200 this past year, but he does not see his dollars going to work.

The city says with the new budget, about 50 per cent of this year’s projects have been completed, and they are optimistic that they will get out of the backlog by the end of next summer.

“We just really understand that there’s frustration from the residents and we’re doing our best to work through those back logs so we can get back to a better service level,” said Midgley.

Midgley added that they expect the project at Kleckner’s corner of Sherwood Drive and Hayes Crescent would be completed by the end of this year.

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