The City Council questioned Bruce Collingwood on the use of the cold patch material on Tuesday.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Some city councilors are questioning whether it is appropriate to use cold patch on potholes when the repair breaks down just days later.

 

But, Commissioner of Public Safety Bruce Collingwood says the city doesn't make enough hot patch to keep up with the amount of potholes this spring, so cold patch is the only way to reduce liability.

 

On Tuesday, both Collingwood and the City Council agreed that hot patch is a better repair but disputed the wisdom of using cold patch at all.

 

"We all agree it is an inferior product ... If I could put all hot, I would do it," Collingwood said. "We are making it as quick as we can."

 

According to Collingwood, the city's Bagela 7000 Asphalt Recycler can make four tons of hot patch in an hour while each crew can use between four and eight tons in a day. The city has six crews working during a day, meaning they could go through about 36 tons. The recycler can only make 24 tons a day. 

 

Councilor at Large Barry Clairmont questioned why pay for extra crews to work if the work isn't being done with hot patch. He said it would make financial sense to keep the money spent on crews using cold patch, which tears up within days and instead use on four crews to lay the more permanent hot patch.

 

"It just seems to me that we are being foolish with our money if we lay down even an ounce of cold patch," Clairmont said.

 

The city is uses in-house crews and teams from the Berkshire County House of Correction. This year it contracted for two additional crews. Collingwood said the city has a liability in regard to potholes — the holes need to be patched within days of being reported. At this time, there are too many holes to keep up with the reports and needs, he said, so the cold patch prevents damage to vehicles until the crews can "circle back" with the hot patch.

 

"Vehicles are getting damaged. We feel we are forced to use cold patch to respond," Collingwood said. 

 

Councilor at Large Kathleen Amuso said she doesn't "know if it is worth the time and effort" though because the patches work for such a small period of time. Once the patch fails, the material is spread out over the road and needs to be cleaned when the crews go back. 

 

Council Vice President Christopher Connell said he'd like to spend a day with the road crew to see ins and outs of the repairs. He, too, believes that the city may be better served with fewer crews all focused solely on hot patch.

 

Recently, the city received a boost in money to repair potholes from the state. The $207,177 is expected to be used to pay the workers for about an extra month in searching and repairing the holes throughout the city. As of last week, the city had spent a little more than $30,000 to repair holes with four crews. 

 

"That's going to be a great help," Mayor Daniel Bianchi said last week. "This will allow us to purchase more product and keep those crews working longer."

 

This year the holes are particularly worse than in other years, officials said, because the cold winter froze water deeper than before. Water soaking into the soil underneath pavement freezes and expands. When it melts, the road erodes.

 

Adding to the problem, the city didn't release a contract for road repairs last summer because of a dispute between the mayor and the City Council. Ultimately, the borrowing authority for road repairs was approved at a greater number than in years past but that contract hasn't been awarded yet so those roads which were set for repair last year, wasn't repaired. The contract calls for various road repairs on 21 different streets.