Mission's engineering and public works department had a busy 2023.
Engineering and public works director Tracy Kyle presented council with the department's annual report on June 17, covering waste collection, water consumption, roads, capital projects and more.
Public works crews collected 9.5 tonnes (21,000 lbs) of roadside littler in 2023, in addition to 22 tonnes of waste brought to Mission Landfill by community clean up groups.
Coun. Danny Plecas was concerned by the amount of litter picked up by crews. He asked Kyle if signage would work as a possible deterrent for littering.
Kyle said education will help, but catching people littering is difficult.
"There are people that .. know that they should not be dumping, but they still make a choice to do that," Kyle said.
The department also inspected almost 347 km of road, 106 km of sidewalks and 1,400 cross culverts.
Coun. Carol Hamilton asked Kyle if the province keeps up with road inspections as much as the city.
Kyle says the city passes along information to the provincial contractor many times a week and contacts the transportation ministry If there are ongoing issues.
The department has also been encouraging the province to improve road maintenance.
"You can very clearly see where our work ends and their work hasn't started. So we're hoping that they can find some funding to do a little bit more [of] that in our community because I think it really shows when it's not getting done," Kyle said.
Water consumption declined in Mission in 2023 by almost 110 million litres and has been down almost every year since 2019. The lone exception was 2021 when water consumption jumped by roughly 275 million litres from the previous year.
Kyle also reviewed capital projects completed or in progress last year. The 7th Avenue Greenway and the Gaudin Creek Wetlands Community Detention Pond were both among finished projects.
Meanwhile, projects including the 14th Avenue Road Improvements, penitentiary pump station upgrade and Wren Street Bridge investigation got underway.
Coun. Ken Herar said he was happy with the 14th Avenue improvements.
"I want to say 14th Avenue looks great. I think there's been a lot of hard work. First of all, I was kind of pessimistic how it was going to look, but it actually looks really great with the sidewalk and the new lighting," Herar said.
Kyle says phase three of the 14th Avenue improvements has funding and expects to finish the design and go out to tender this fall.
