More wooden posts, piles to come

This Tuesday Iqaluit council approved the purchase of metal piles to fix more wooden posts along city streets this summer.

Council awarded the contract to Canadrill Limited for $63,000 plus GST. The piles will hold in place about 160 posts, running from the Four Corners to the new justice building and the legislative building, and from Iqaluit Square to White Row.

The piles will also hold up more parking posts beside the post office. Money for the piles comes out of a $430,000 project budget.

But before councillors approved the contract, some weighed in on how the first wave of wooden posts are holding up.

“They look terrible. We should resolve this problem with the posts before we go any further,” Coun. Claude Martel said.

The poles are kiln-dried, lands director Michele Bertol said, and will naturally fade from a “nice, yellow colour” to “more gray.”

“It’ll look more weathered, there’s no doubt about that,” she said.

Deputy mayor Glenn Williams wondered if damaged poles were under warranty.

Bertol said they aren’t, because damage to poles isn’t caused by the weather, but by residents who plough their vehicles into them, or smash the tops with rocks.

Williams then asked if replacements have been ordered for fallen poles.

“We’ve had a few poles die,” Williams said. “I’m just wondering if we’re recruiting a few replacements, because it’s looking like bad dental work now.”

Bertol said about 90 replacement poles have been ordered.