Duane Hicks
Fort Frances will be pressuring the Ministry of Transportation and Miscampbell Road Authority to repair the section of Frog Creek Road fronting the airport property.
Mayor and council have gotten several complaints in recent months about the condition of this portion of the road, which is used by land ambulances to transport patients to and from the airport.
The condition of the road reportedly is causing discomfort to the patients.
Coun. John Albanese said the condition of the road is “unbearable.”
“Those people on the airport road, they must suffer every day trying to go back and forth,” he noted at Monday night’s council meeting.
“There’s a lot of people that live on that road, and there’s a lot of traffic at the airport,” Coun. Albanese added.
“We should do something about it.”
But the town does not own this 1.1-km portion of Frog Creek Road, which is located in the unorganized township of Miscampbell.
Rather, it is supposed to be maintained by the Miscampbell Road Authority.
Maintenance of the road has been an ongoing problem. The town—at its own cost—upgraded this section of Frog Creek Road back in 2003.
Surface treatment for the same road was in the 2013 budget, but was deferred to the 2014 budget due to tight finances.
“We should be getting the province involved,” said Operations and Facilities manager Doug Brown.
“We shouldn’t be doing what we’re doing out there.
“It’s not our obligation,” Brown stressed. “Just because we have an airport that we pay taxes to Miscampbell for, we shouldn’t have to take care of the road out to the airport.
“Everyone blames it on the town, but it’s not actually in the town limits,” he added.
“That’s my point.”
Coun. Rick Wiedenhoeft noted the town pays money to the Miscampbell Road Authority for maintenance of that road, and the town is going after the Ministry of Transportation to get money to repair it.
“We will continue to press the Ministry of Transportation, but ultimately Miscampbell is responsible for that road,” he concurred.
Mayor Roy Avis said the town previously has contacted the Miscampbell Road Authority—and its requests have fallen on “deaf ears.”
He noted that for every dollar the town pays to the Miscampbell Road Authority, they get two dollars from the Ministry of Transportation.
Mayor Avis reasoned that if the Miscampbell Road Authority isn’t going to fix the road, maybe those provincial dollars should go to the town instead so it can make the repairs.
“We’ll go through the process,” the mayor added. “I believe even if the process fails that we should probably do something to repair it.”
Mayor Avis noted that he and Coun. Albanese were at the “Fly-in, Drive-in BBQ” at the airport on Sunday, and the public made it clear to him the road to the airport “is a disgrace to the town to have it in that condition.”
The cost to treat the road is estimated at $55,650.
Council agreed Monday that the town is not in a financial position to incur any non-budgeted capital expense to treat the road in 2013, and will send a letter to the Miscampbell Road Authority to indicate it properly maintain the road.
The letter also will be forwarded to the Ministry of Transportation and the Rainy River District Social Services Administration Board.
